I came back for a bit. but really am just struggling to like this.
killed elder, then went searching for swamps. east, north, east, north, south on foot for days, nothing. Hopped on a boat and went sailing. found some eventually.. put up a basecamp/teleport, and spent some time exploring it. no dungeon. packed up, and went sailing again. found one quickly this time at least. set up another base camp. and explored it. a Dungeon. good. spend days mining/hauling the iron out. a good haul. like 100-120ish.. sail it back... and craft like 1 item before running out. (exaggeration, was actually an axe, forge upgrades, and room for 1 more iirc. need to decide pick, bow, or armor)
check online, going to need 1200 iron to build 1 of everything that uses iron.. sigh.. I did see another swamp while sailing the iron back. but damn this game feels more like a chore more often then it should.