I dunno, this game is kind of hit and miss. For a while I was insisting on playing torch bearer just because I thought he was cool as hell. It felt like for a good two days I was getting TROUNCED no matter what I did, so I stopped playing for a day (pouted a bit) and came back. Played about two pantheon games where I trounced everyone...no idea why. Didn't last long, of course.
The thing about this game is that not only are there a wide variety of players with different skill levels, but the ones that ARE good really understand the way this game has what I call a "snowball" effect. That is, once you've gotten a few kills against enemy demigods or generals, you've got a good amount of gold built up, and if you know exactly what items to buy with said gold, it'll just give your character even MORE of an advantage, which will get you more gold, and so on and so on. When you combine that with someone who REALLY knows how to play their character, you'll get your ass kicked if you're not on your toes. Also, the dynamics of the game modes seem to allow for this same effect too. If a team can manage to hold onto gold-mine flags and gain a lot more gold than your team, they'll be able to make upgrades to their reinforcements quicker, and thus get a tighter hold on the map, which leads to more gold which leads to more upgrades which leads to....blah blah blah.
Not complaining at all, it's just that the dynamics of the game allow for savvy players to REALLY rape the shit out of their opponents if they know exactly what items and upgrades to purchase.
I agree with one of the previous posters, if you're feeling so bad about it, share your tips with people who you are annihilating. I dunno how many times I've asked people in games to tell me what on earth they're doing to be so indestructible, only to have them just laugh and keep pounding me.