First Month In, Feeling a Bit Lost on What Comes Next

[skylerclooney]

Hi all, I’m Skyler, new both to this forum and Haven & Hearth. I started about a month ago, and I thought I was doing alright until recently I realized I don’t really know what direction I should be heading.
At the start, I was excited just to survive a night or two. I built a tiny hearth fire camp, struggled with my first rabbit snare (took me way too long to figure out what I was doing wrong), and eventually got some carrots and beets growing. It felt like a huge victory when I finally made bread for the first time.
But now I’m kind of stuck. My small patch of farmland and makeshift camp don’t feel like they’re enough anymore. Wild boars have chased me off twice already, and when I try to explore, I just get overwhelmed by how massive the world is. I don’t know if I should pack up and move to look for better land, keep grinding where I am, or try reaching out to other players even though I’m worried about getting robbed.
I want to know after the survive the basics stage, how do you decide what the next step in your journey should be? Do you set goals for yourself, or let the world push you in a direction?

[SpacePig]

Hi all, I’m Skyler, new both to this forum and Haven & Hearth. I started about a month ago, and I thought I was doing alright until recently I realized I don’t really know what direction I should be heading.
At the start, I was excited just to survive a night or two. I built a tiny hearth fire camp, struggled with my first rabbit snare (took me way too long to figure out what I was doing wrong), and eventually got some carrots and beets growing. It felt like a huge victory when I finally made bread for the first time.
But now I’m kind of stuck. My small patch of farmland and makeshift camp don’t feel like they’re enough anymore. Wild boars have chased me off twice already, and when I try to explore, I just get overwhelmed by how massive the world is. I don’t know if I should pack up and move to look for better land, keep grinding where I am, or try reaching out to other players even though I’m worried about getting robbed.
I want to know after the survive the basics stage, how do you decide what the next step in your journey should be? Do you set goals for yourself, or let the world push you in a direction?

Don't worry about getting robbed, bro. A newbie has absolutely no useful resources here; you can only get killed in this game. To avoid this, read the guides on this forum, learn how to build a fence and hide the keys. As for development, if you're a corporate player, try to find friends in a larger village. If you're a solo player, only pain and humiliation await you, even if you know what to do.

[animary]

If there is fresh water nearby and foraging/hunting is decent, consider staying where you are and use this time to get accustomed to the game. You need to build a pali for protection, this will keep out all animals and protect you from most players; doesn't have to be particularly large, just enclose what you now have, another can be built farther out when you need more space. You will need a claim post to protect this, otherwise any strong player can demolish the pali; the claim should extend at least 3-4 tiles outside the pali.

Build a chicken coop and rabbit hutch, catch a pair of chickens and a pair of rabbits, give them food and water, and you have a steady supply of meat, bones, feathers, eggs, and fur (which can make leather). The q of materials for the buildings doesn't matter, but the q of water and food does, so start working on farming skills to get better crops.

Build a study desk and keep it stocked with curios to help you advance skills.

Learn to fish. When you can make rope create fishing nets, these go in deep water so you'll need at least a canoe (only requires a log and fireplace, plus boatbuilding skill).

Peruse the Ring Of Brodgar wiki, it describes nearly everything in the game, how to make/use it, and what skills are required. (As you progress more options become open to you.)

Never give your location publicly, some players will track you down to do mischief. Though it's safe to ask about things in chat, most players are quite willing to help.

Be careful traveling at night, vampire bats reside in some trees and will attack on sight (once you've killed a few regular bats and can make a bat cape you are safe); also during a full moon wolf packs roam at night, they are very dangerous. Also give adders a wide margin, you can't outrun them, they can swim, and one bite could be fatal to a beginning character. (I keep all animal icons active in my icon menu; only using other icons when I am seeking something.)

[meusb]

Welcome to the game!
Generally, don't worry about settling as a new player. Once you settle (build houses & start farming crops) - you'll be tempted to stay at that spot, and will miss getting to know the world. My suggestion for somewhat interesting and yet productive early game:

1) You'd need a few reliable sources of energy (food) - easiest one would be Fruitroast - made from leaves and fruits - these can be baked while you "sleep", to avoid waiting around the fire.

2) Try to catch a Squirrel, skin it, dry its hide, and produce 1 piece of Leather - and with it make a Hunter's Bow. Make some Stone Arrows too. Equip the bow and carry a few arrows, so you can hunt small animals.
Being able to shoot with bow and arrow is really, really awesome early game (and a bit of fun) - allows you to catch (kill) small animals like Rabbit, Chicken, Squirrel etc. with one shot. You'll have then a very easy time collecting bones, meats, skins, and producing Leather - those are really important early.

3) Kill (shoot) more small animals, collect the skins, and produce more Leather - to make a Leather Backpack.

From there on - build a Dugout, get to a river and start boating in any direction. That's much faster and will allow you to cover more area, find more animals, get to see different biomes (forests, swamps, mountains, there are a lot of those).
Note: generally, rivers and water bodies are considered "dangerous" - but at this time in the world (last reset was a year ago) - there won't be many (if any at all) aggressive players that may kill you on sight. Don't worry about it if that happens - the chance is really small with ~200 people online.

Enjoy and good luck! Once you start boating and exploring, you'll have a lot more fun and hopefully get to love the game. Keep visiting the wiki (ringofbrodgar.com)