Where are you, and what level?
In addition to the relevant weapon expertise, Bleed is quite helpful.
The majority of my equipment I got from random loot, chests and the occasional quest reward (my first choice was experience, though, when there was an option). I did purchase some equipment, though more so near the end of the game.
Have you maxed Lockpick? Some people wait to learn that skill, to get better quality loot if they open locked chests at a higher level. By then you basically end up with more gold (which is easy to get, especially after getting the battle tower) and possibly equipment upgrades that you obviously were not in great need of, if you could wait to open the chests.
Have you gone back and checked the merchants in the village, etc, since you last leveled? Merchant inventories should be reset each time you level.
If you save before getting too near a merchant/chest or running the crosshairs over them/it, you can check the inventory and reload if there is nothing of value. I wouldn't waste a lot of time reloading, though, especially since the game seems to keep track of how long it has been since you last loaded the game, and tends to give you better loot if you don't reload. Due to the random item generation, though, you can get better loot sometimes if you try a few times, which can come in handy for chests that always give a good quality item (ie the chest that will be opened if you mindread Lovis) or boss type opponents that always drop something when defeated (save just before finishing them off), etc.
I started off duel wielding swords, then switched to axes, since they started having better damage. About mid game I switched to hammers, and then towards the end was back to a sword / axe combo.
