Sunic: Why is rocket tag most pronounced at the lowest levels?
Because you can't do shit about it.
At level 1, you die in a single attack.
At level 10, you die in one full attack.
Obviously, it's harder to deliver something that makes it so you can't move more than 5 feet than something that can get you up to 60 feet away regardless of build or actions.
If it takes two, instead of one multiple enemies. These are most common at the lowest levels, as you can pack 2 Medium size Warrior 1s into a single routine encounter (3 in Pathfailure) and anything harder than routine will have more. It won't take more than two from anything remotely level appropriate.
On the magic side...
At level 1, save or loses are DC 15 without trying, more with specialization, and you get a +1 "you exist" bonus in Pathfailure. They're all Will based.
Will saves at this level range from -1 (some beatstick with 8 Wis) to +6 (standard divine caster, becomes +7 in Pathfailure). Ignoring the outliers, that's a greater than 50% chance of being negated in 1 action. In some cases it's as high as 75%. Even if you count divine casters, it still has a 40% success rate against them. With no specialization.
At level 10, save DCs will be a bit higher. Probably around DC 21 if you're not trying, +1 "you exist" bonus in Pathfailure. But you can IP proof a whole lot better with immunities, and save boosters, and so forth. Passing level appropriate saves on a 2-5 is not that hard. Sure you could still have bad saves, but then either your DM is coddling you, or you're dying all the time.
Basically, the higher level you are, the more forcefields you have to block enemy rockets. This assumes you have a competent DM though. If you have a herp derper, expect him to get mad about becoming outright immune to anything, and make the game even more Rocket Tag by removing defenses from it, leaving only the offenses.