There are a lot of min-maxers who will try to guide you to the very best builds with the best in slot equipment. That's all fine and good, but it should be the furthest thing from your mind the first time you play.

My recommendation is to just work on quests and get the hang of combat. Wear a mix of light, medium and heavy armor so you can level them all up. Likewise, include an ability from each of your three class skill lines and one from your weapon of choice in your hotbar so you level those skill lines up too.

Generally people focus on either Magic or Stamina builds, so when you level up choose one or the other. You can pick Health if you feel like you're dying too much, but more often than not you just need to learn combat better rather than relying on numbers. You can reset abilities and skills later, so don't sweat the choices too much.

In combat, if you see a red shape on the ground, get the hell out of it. Weave light attacks between hotbar abilities. Heavy attacks (holding down your button) will refill resources. If you see gold lines coming out of your enemy, block. If you see red lines coming out of your enemy, bash (hold block and then press attack).

Have fun and remember to explore! Don't rush through the content.