A common question for young adventurers is whether they should train strength, stamina, agility, or what-not.
My advice is to neglect none of them. Try to keep all stats within a few points of each other. This takes some restraint, as it is tempting, for instance, for a warrior to train strength to the exclusion of charisma or wisdom.
At the start, many of you will train up one stat to around eighteen. If you've already done that, set a goal to have all stats equal twenty. When one stat reaches twenty, do not train it up until all of the others reach twenty as well.
Out of Character (OOC) Tip: Type strength to see more information about that stat and how many TPDs you need to raise it to the next point. This works for all stats; type intelligence, wisdom, charisma, etc. and you'll see.
I grew up with light edged weapons, and so I have stayed with them as well. I've heard many people talk of them with derision, but in truth, the power of a blade is not the blade, but the skill of the one holding it.
I've dropped swamp trolls in a single strike with my short sword, so let no one tell you a light blade is ineffective. I toy with other weapons like scimitars, bows, and bokos, but when I need to put an end to a critter quickly, I pull out the weapon I'm best with.
I'm not saying to choose a light edged blade. I do advise that you find a weapon that suits you and become a specialist with it. Now, if you are a barbarian, you'll need to specialize in at least two. And, let's face it, barbarians are weapons-masters and learn weapon skills like mad. The rest of us need to, ah, pick our battles, so to speak.
One regret of mine is that I didn't train shield much beyond what my guild required, which was ten lessons. I was foolish to ignore it, as I now realize a shield has tremendous value in blocking attacks.
Had I to do it over again, you'd never see me without one, and whenever my short sword would be in hand, my shield would be in the other.
My one bit of advice with shields is to start with a small, light shield. As you get better at handling them, step up the size accordingly.