Great work on this! It is a very big help knowing exactly what it is that is confusing.
Regarding the FAQ, I have changed it to Help/Questions on our forums, which hopefully helps a bit. But if they don't read it when they get to it it won't be of any use.
An idea that I've had is to have a Quick Tip every time a (new) user logs in, which basicly could be a randomized question from the FAQ. This would mean that they would only get a little piece of information, so that it won't be as overwhelming. Also, the start page for beginners could have some welcome information, some tips on how to get started etc.
