Most important advice for a new player:
You can make the game speed faster by pressing F1 and clicking on 1x until it says 2x
Run across the world 2x faster, enemies take their turn 2x faster, combat animations move 2x faster. Game just feels sluggish without it

I never had any qualms with the default animation speed. I would say much better advice is investing in a couple point of body and a point or two in dodge, regardless of build.

In some UGC I have combat where it took 2 minutes for enemies to do their turn (30+ zombies on screen)
Doubling the speed halves this time. Also it halves travel time outside of combat apples and oranges