Just started playing Ark recently and joined a beginners server today on The Island.
I spawned into the easiest zone and started off with gathering resources and making the basic tools, i.e pickaxe and hatchet. After this I went foresting for berries and went hunting for dodos to gather some meat for later.
Once I finished that, I decided it was time to create a base, I made a 2x1 base out of thatch and placed a campfire and a storage unit inside just to start off, I then found a supply drop and received a bed and 2 more storage units and decided it was time to expand my base so I added a 1x1 onto the side and connected it with a doorway.
My current goals now are:
Level up enough to be able to start taming some low level dinos easily.
Get some better tools and hopefully go on the hunt for metal.