As for weapons, there seems to be a meta if you ask around but I just tend to use what I like. You can respect all your stats so if you decide to switch from using a bow and a 2 hander for instance to a one hand sword and a staff you can do that at any time. It all depends on where you are with the game in my opinion. Early on just go with what you like to try and then later if you decide to start doing group dungeons which have four people and you need to do more damage then by then you'll be able to research different spell rotations with what you have or go with more cookie cutter weapons types that everyone uses. And then if you want to run trials which are super large groups you can switch for those also. Up until level fifty my advise is to just use what you find from loot and hit the newer zones like Elsweyr and kill dragons and world bosses and stuff and explore those two zones. By level 50 you'll be decked out in some pretty decent gear from those zones. I also have about 500k on that toon just from selling zone loot drops from Northern and Southern Elsweyr.

Also crafting is pretty cool in this game, every day just go to a crafting area and deconstruct all your junk items which will level up your crafting and also can make you some nice gold by selling the mats with little effort. Also the big thing is from day one to go to a stable in each town and train, you can train to get faster riding, more inventory space, or ride longer distances etc.

I've played for about a year and a half and came back recently and started a new Warden DK, didn't give him anything from my other toons period until level fifty and did just like I described and he's max level in all crafts, max level riding speed and has pretty darn good gear. Rarely dies he's kind of tanky with heavy armor and uses two hand and a bow. People say that's not good but he can solo WB's all day without loosing much health which my main could not, he dies quickly due to light armor!