Sandbox survival and "find your adventure" concept is just perfect.
I didn't mean to completely avoid combat, our group is capable. It's just that others need a bigger concept, than plain domination of the environment - a home, of sorts, to have a reason to play and fight at all.

I personally usually just roam - I'd grind levels and sleep in the woods, get stronger and get that next boss / challenge.
Others would do the same, in terms of leveling and fighting - but more moderately - and find it largely meaningless without a base, animals, and a place to kick back and decorate.

How tedious is crafting?
I remember The Forest game had payed so much attention to woodcutting, it's really engaging there. Even forging in Skyrim felt pretty neat - smashing that hammer, metal singing. Is there something like that in Valheim, or the usual (for the genre) looking blankly at the crafting table, watching numbers go up?