Ok thanks - so here are a few things to look at.
1. Drop the XTG and ATG passes until you master a WTG. It is generally the easiest to master and you wil find out a lot about your beard growth while doing so - especially your neck. The problem there is that the skin is thin and sensitive and the beard growth for many of us tends to be in all kinds of crazy directions. What that means is that even wheny you shave WTG (that is north to south) you may not be going WTG. For me, most of my neck growth is sideways. So if I make a north to south stroke, which on my cheeks is a WTG, as I get to my neck, it is XTG - so I have to drop the angle of my blade or risk major razor burn. That is why it is so important to know your growth directions. The stroke you make my have to have the blade angle adjusted on the fly to accomodate changing beard growth directions.
2. Don't pat your face dry - leave it wet from the shower. Your skin and wiskers will start to dry, harden aand close up on you.
3. Try soaking your brush and stropping before you go into the shower - again you are giving your skin and beard time to firm up after the hot shower, which is not what you want.
4. I have to say that I probably strop excessively - but I like to strop. I do 100 strokes. But I think 25 -40 may be on the light side for quantity.
5. Building a good lather is vey very important. The lather plays a lot of roles in getting a good comfortable shave. It has been several years and I feel like I only got the process down this last year. I don't want to scare you about that and make it sound like a lot voodoo. I just played around a lot. Also, make sure you shake out the excess water from your soaked brush. It is hard to load the brush while it is too wet because it starts building lather rather than loading. Don't be afraid to practice buidling lather on the side (no using it to shave with)
6. Post treatment I think is one of the great times in shaving with a straight - you definatley are minamalist there. Try Nivea Replenishing Balm. $5.00 at Meijer's if you have them there. Else I buy them in bulk on Amazon. It is a really good inexpensive balm. And I'll tell you this, if you get razor burn, you are going to need a balm - no doubt.
So let me tell you about the blade angle and pressure. If your blade angle is too steep, you tend to use a lot of pressure to mow down the whiskers. I discovered early on to lay the blade almost flat on my skin and then lift slightly as I start the stroke, finding the comfort spot that cuts but does not pull. Take a look on the Wiki at the blade angles. An ATG is only 5 degrees - that is almost completely flat. My guess is you are much steeper than that. People here tend to use the visual of 1/2 - 1 blade width for ATG. 1- 1 1/2 for XTG and 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 for WTG or so. You can watch it in the mirror.
Ok - that's about it for now. Try some of these and see if they work for you and let us know.
BTW, you may get different advice from other people. That is because people develop over time preferences based on what they like and what works for them. You have to experiment. Hopefully you have a lot of natural curiosity. :)