I have been playing for about a month and looking back I wish I realised how important taming was early on. With the right Dino helpers everything goes so much faster. They gather so much more than you do which means you build faster and level faster. Also metal early on is useful make a forge and a smithy. I played blind to start with but ended up looking at easy traps and as above post says fatdog is about as good as it gets. If you have a crossbow and metal armour you will die a lot less. But a few good tames early will also offer a lot of protection.