Telling you. Forget about fighting monsters. Just do gathering. It is the best way to avoid death. After spending 2 months, I've managed to get myself almost 70 different types of items. Even my advy who used to fight only has 88 types.
The only thing fighting is good for is it helps you train faster. But if you take things slowly by doing gathering, you will eventually be able to make an item and even upgrade it quickly if you are lucky. Plus you only need to focus on getting 1 type of gear to maximum. That is like 300 gold or more you can use for filling kegs or for training yourself in the academy.
If you don't want to die, just do gathering. It is that easy.
