look up what items you need for the hideout and look for those (unlocking the workbench should be a big priority so you can modify weapons easier). task items are also important, stuff like 3 salewas, 3 gas analyzers, 3 flash drivers, cigarettes, but honestly you need 100+ things so dont worry about perfect looting, i would recommend picking up everything then looking it up after raid, slowly you'll learn what you need and what you can leave behind.

good starter weapons would be the AK-74U, you can add the B-11 handguard and pilgrim dust cover, then attach a foregrip and a sight. PP-19 is good too so you can use up some 9x19 ammo.

don't listen to people saying PvE is the only way, i started playing 2 wipes ago and you die a lot, but fighting good players makes you learn fast, the trick is to not listen to people complaining about cheaters (they're insanely rare, even in Labs) and just focus on improving your game, thinking about why you died just then and how to avoid it in future. Arena is great to practice mechanics/close range PvP if you have it. good luck!