Every so often in my scrolling i see questions, some common some not as common. Sometimes the player is frustrated because they cannot figure something out or find the material they are looking for so I’m typing this to try and alleviate some of that frustration that new players may have.
First, Break EVERYTHING! All of the plants, rocks, trees, leaves, and dirt. You will need it at some point in the game I promise you.
Second, the knowledge tab is your friend. It has a list of your current crafting abilities as well as all of the materials currently found in the game. On PC it can be accessed by pressing TAB or K(by default), on Ps4 it can be accessed by pressing the right side of the touch pad(iirc) So if your looking for say Desert Sword it’s in the knowledge tab under resources with a handy picture and if you click on it it will tell you where it can be found (elevation, biome etc)
Third, Don’t forget about your skill points. In order to progress further into the crafting mechanics you will need to invest in the crafting skills. Ideally, one should put a point in each thing, but generally you’ll want to start with machine crafting 1 as that will allow you to craft all of the basic machines. Cleanse points can be used to remove unwanted skills and as you level you gain 1 cleanse point per level(they can also be purchased @10 for 300 cubits). Cubits are also earned every time you level up in increasing amounts.
Fourth, Objectives are NOT necessary to complete the game, they help and add an interesting challenge, but do NOT need to be completed in any order, most often just playing the game will complete some if not all of the objectives. Just because the objective says find this or do that doesn’t mean you MUST do it now. Start slow, and learn about the things you are comfortable with before jumping ahead. They are listed in Tiers, but my suggestion is to stay away from them until you are sure you can do them.
Lastly, Have fun! It is a game. It is new and things are still being tweaked on a weekly basis. Feel free to @ me at anytime and if i can answer your question i will not hesitate to do so. I’m here to help and love to do so. If you happen to run across Perrin or Matrim in-game wave and say hello, and i’ll probably drop ya some goodies 
It’s the journey that counts, because here the destination is Boundless.