The names of the roles weren't too hard to grasp. All of them are the basic archetypes for character builds in MMO games, like Sentinel = Tank, Synergist = Buffer, Saboteur = Debuffer, etc. Once I realized that, they were much easier to remember.

The weapon/accessory upgrades aren't too bad once you know what you are doing. Start off and use the "naturey beast stuff" (like the fangs) until you get a 3x multiplier, then use as many of the synthetic stuff as you can until the multiplier gets reset.