Is it just me or does the entire concept of items get confusing? I browsed through the different menus and such, but I still can't really grasp how it works. Are there any good guides out there?

Everything is easy, for each armour you buying you need recourse's, you get recourse's after the match! When you buying a armour on a side its says recipe and there you can see what you need to Craft an amour.
To craft a armour go to Forge, left mouse click on your armour that you buy and you can see what recourse's you need t craft it.

Good luck trying to craft some of the items though