grasshoppers aren't that hard to kill.. easier than a mi gao actually. Try just killing the ones you come across so you dont end up mobbing them?
get a good bunch of FWings with you as well, so you can easily tele away if you think you've taken on more than you can.
Leaf cats imo were actually harder than mi gaos and not as rewarding, because of the monkeys and they take forever to kill. Hm.. if you had decent gears I'd say high orcs.. see if you can get a soul linker and a WS to come along with you and buff you, then you might be able to take on a few HOs? 8D
there's a free tank/leech service somewhere in the market on the forums, see if its still up : )