Hey guys, long time RPG player here and skyrim is an inredible game. With that being said, I have a couple of questions. First...this game is huge. And thats awesome, sometimes it just gets a little confusing where to start though because the game is so big lol. I just completed diplomatic immunity so im not too far in the main storyline and have been dabbling with the companion questline and the imperial army. The one thing though...I feel like I die so damn quick. Im only a level 8 and my one handed is 45(I dual wield) and I wear light armor usually. So where can I buy really good weapons and armor that wont cost an arm and a leg? I just wanna get over that slump of being a crappy weak new player and actaully become powerful lol

Thanks guys

You being a level 8, I would recommend having a follower, maybe lowering the difficulty will help. Try Smithing when you can. You'll eventually get better Armor and weapons.

Buying armour and weapons is pretty much always going to be the most expensive option, but you can usually get good gear as loot - although if you're only level 8 and have gotten that far in the MQ you may have outpaced yourself a bit, as you get the fancier gear as you level up, e.g. at low levels it's all iron, steel and leather, then you start getting the odd bit of the next tier (Dwarven/Elven?) and so on. The best gear, though, is generally stuff you craft yourself, so long as you put a fair bit of effort into 'practicing' (I find it a rather more RP-friendly term than 'grinding'...) your blacksmithing and raise your level - this will both affect the type of things you can make, providing you invest some perk points in the smithing tree, and increase the amount by which you can improve a given item at the grindstone/workbench. At level 8, improved steel or leather armour will do you fine in most situations until you start getting some fancier loot - which you can also improve, you don't have to have made it yourself to do so.

Once you have an item of gear you like, find out what material you need to improve it (e.g. leather armour will take one piece of leather to improve, an ebony sword will take one ebony ingot to improve) and keep an eye out for that, either in the shops or in loot/mining sites. If your smithing skill is low, you may only be able to improve an item a small amount, but when your skill improves more you can improve it again with another piece of the material - or, you can wait until you can use that first piece of material to improve it to the higher tier straight off. There are various guides on how to level smithing, but if you get told that iron daggers is the best way, look for another guide as that's out of date info. (I like Dwarven bows once I get to that level/unlock the perk).

Oh, if you *do* want to buy armour (e.g. for roleplay reasons of character thinking smithing is beneath them and not wanting to use stuff you got off corpses...) then that also is a bit dependent on your level - when you're starting out all the blacksmiths will have a mix of leather, hide, iron and maybe steel gear, then as you improve they'll start having the fancier stuff in stock. I don't think any blacksmiths have particularly 'better' gear, it's all fairly randomised, but if you really want a specific item it may be worth doing the rounds from one smithy to the next.

Definitely invest in a crafting skill. You'll be able to make better stuff than you can buy, and enhance what you pick up. Smithing is pretty powerful.

Don't worry about following quest lines. Exploration is its own reward. There's no timeline on anything, even if NPCs talk like their quest is urgent.

Dual wielding can be tough because your best defense is dodging attacks. You can do a large amount of damage and usually stagger enemies with a double power attack, however, so you'll need to get used to stepping away from enemy attacks before landing your heavy hitters.

Smithing is nice because you can improve both your armor and weapon.

If you want to make a few extra coins invest in some speech craft too. The extra jingle will help starting out.

For me, just being lost and not knowing what to do or where to go was the best part for me. I just wandered around and learned eventually. I think thats the best part of TES games.