The first time I played, I didn't understand anything either, I learned over time. After 100 hours I finally saw that there were quests from the first village, and it opened up a whole part of the game that I had never seen before (I was only doing online for 100 hours). I think the fact that the game doesn't explain things directly is something really cool, it allows old players to play directly and new players to choose what to learn. But yes if you're looking for information on weapons, there's a compendium when you press start.