I seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle.

I want to level my ranger or lancer but I find that increasingly difficult. They are both basically capped at level 11 because I cannot proceed much further with level 1 items.

So I want to craft things, I have my Botanist at 16 and most skills between 4-12, I assumed this would be enough to get the ball rolling or at least create something higher than level 1. How wrong I was...

I am unable to create anything involving leather because willow logs are nowhere to be found and all information on them seems to be outdated or inaccurate, so my sheepskins are pretty useless, which is unfortunate because they are required for well, everything... even a new weapon.

Am I supposed to be leveling in level 1 items? Am I doing something wrong that I am unable to kill things without resting every single kill after barely surviving? Or am I missing some key element to crafting (I can't proceed with either leather or with metals right now because I cannot create ingots, which to my understanding requires special training that I cannot yet acquire).

Basically... what am I doing wrong? I can understand and appreciate that the crafting system is complex but every time I get close to crafting something I cam use it requires something I just cannot make.

Am I supposed to start out as caster, no exceptions? Because I feel like there are a lot of cloth things I'd probably be able to make... I just don't want to play one.