In general people are VERY newbie friendly. No new players = the game dying out, so nobody wants to drive folks away.
Most chapters have a new player rep, and they'll take some time out at the beginning of the game to show you the basics. As was mentioned, NPCing is a great way to learn the game.
Leveling up actually happens between events- you don't earn points per monster or that sort of thing the way you would in a video game or table-top.
For example if you start the game knowing how to use a sword but want to learn to use a shield, all you'd need to worry about while actually playing would be to find somebody to teach you how to use a shield. At the end of that event you'd earn a set amount of build points that you can spend toward building your character. So you wouldn't have to worry about the technical bits while at the game.
Hope this helps.