It's been a few years now since I initially played it, but my advice is to make a sick mead hall.

Seriously, you can build some really cool shit. I had this place on top of a hill near the water at the edge of the forest and meadows and there was this awesome fog that would roll in. Absolutely stellar vibes. Was 100% a hangout/podcast game. I went through hours of pods just building shit that had no real functional value other than my friends going "wow that's so cool"

Edit: Oh yeah the one thing that was weird but ultimately cool is that your max health is based on the last food you ate. So food is as much a progression as your gear. If you can make good food easily, you can do really well. I remember getting bees going being really helpful, but my memory is bad. I should go back and play more Valheim.