The combat makes more sense if you custom class and put your preferred weapon skill into Major. And keep stamina high. A Redguard with Longblade and the appropriate weapon can kill a mudcrab in two seconds at level 1. You ideally want to start with your main combat skill over 40, if not 50-60. The best part: you don’t need to min-max since the level scaling is minimal. Just pick your favorite armor type/weapon in Major and the rest can be whatever you want.

The game does NOT make that all clear, unfortunately. It took me a few tries to wrap my head around it before falling in love with the game.