to tell you the truth 4 does a better job of explaining as you go and the story mode is much better than three.
but yea as a new player mh is a lot to take in, I pretty much live by the wiki for what I need/ want to grind. the biggest thing is learning the monster patterns and figuring out how to get the most out of your weapon.
atm I am about the hit another wall and have to grind out some better gear to progress. but yea this new game has so many new features that it makes monster hunter interesting again