Though I think there are many good and helpful hints here, and zillions on utube, you may just be playing a game that doesn't fit your style. This is not a run real fast, kill each boss, get a bit of stuff and on to the next biome/boss. Get to the end and complain there's nothing to do. This game is played best for the journey for most. ((Yes indeed there are speed runners but they are usually folks that have played other seeds for many hours and are playing a seed with personal rules.))

Not every game works for every player. I can just sense you chomping at the bit, wanting it to get goin fast so you can go do something else. That's cool, but know that the game doesn't work very well that way and it will punish you painfully for your impatience & lack of preparation. Just how it is.
Each one of you will need hundreds of iron, hundreds of silver, lots of copper and tin, hundreds of black metal, tons of hides, wood, stone, etc., etc. Can't have just one guy with armor and weapons, leveled up. Most need a base, or many bases to rest for buffs. Then there is the farming for food, bees for honey, it's very fun for some, stupid terrible for others. But that IS the game.

Your mission, should you accept it is to just play the game, not thinking about how fast you're not going and when you finish with a biome, have allll or most all the gear, all the new foods, kill the boss then go to the next biome, get your collective ashes handed to you, rinse and repeat.

Fun times!