Chose a Bandit as my start class, because I figured I'm reasonably good at scouting and sniping from a distance

Did not expect a random tree sentinel on a horse to cleave me in half right in the beginning

So I'm 9 hours in as of last night. I'm at Level 20 so at least figured out how leveling up works.

But beyond that... no clue what I'm supposed to be doing.

I ventured toward Stormveil Castle, just to repeatedly get my ass kicked

Ventured elsewhere, just to repeatedly get my ass kicked

Finally moved a bit without dying, when OMG THOSE ROCKS ARE A MINI-BOSS

19 hours in. Spent several hours farming runes near the beast arena so I could get better gear and upgrade my stats.

Got past the first mini-boss in Stormveil.

Then resumed getting my ass kicked 🤦‍♂️

Alright serious Elden Ring question: are there better weapons available to buy somewhere?

Or should I be focusing on gathering as many Smithing Stones as possible and upgrading the early stuff that I like?

Level 40 now. Took more time than I should have farming runes to boost endurance, then switched to a glass cannon / light build with dual-wield on daggers instead of a shield, and a +4 long bow on the side.

Still getting my ass kicked, but less often now 😂

Just got ambushed in the Roundtable Hold and was very "wtf??"

But the new armor after killing that guy is nice ☠️