TL;DR: I settled in the plains before even attempting to explore the Swamp.

Wordier version:

So with most survival games I'm used to playing there's usually some type of barrier, what I call hardwall or softwall, that directs the player in whatever direction the game wants them to take. Hardwalls are things like locked doors or physical unscalable walls; impossible to overcome without progressing in the story. The game will not let you pass until it wants you to (without using exploits). Softwalls, would be things like short walls, bodies of water. Like a sound between two islands on Val. Sure the game obviously WANTS you to build a boat to cross, but with enough stam maybe you can just barely make it. Scaling a softwall might grant you access to a harder area, maybe beat a boss out of order, but it's nothing game breaking, usually just a test of skill. I digress.

I grant that maybe i just completely whiffed past whatever softwall or direction would have given me the idea that the game wanted me to do the biomes in some order, but earlier my friend let me in on that little secret after I complained thoroughly about deathsquitos and how they are a poorly designed and implemented enemy.

After being out there long enough though, while only wearing troll armor, I built my base, tamed lox, farmed tar, and learned to dark souls my way with furlings.

Now I've almost ruined the swamp for myself lol. I fear nothing there, headshoting most creatures before they get anywhere near me. Only aboms have a chance, but their pathing is so dumb and broken they usually never even get to swing at me. Now I have a full suit of their root armor and I've lost the will to complain about deathbugs.

Also killed the bonemass 3x this morning. Just cause the bones were taking up storage space.

So maybe I should just leave the plains and go hang in the mistlands lol?

P.S. After reading what I wrote, I guess the swamp key should have been my clue to go pay attention to the swamp. But as I remember, the draugr in the swamp just wrecked my ♥♥♥♥ anyway. So the difference between the creatures there clapping my cheeks and the field goblins doing the same was nill. Weather was better in the plains anyway lol.