Some clarification please for endgame

I’ve played Rise and World but never really got into end game, I just repeated story a few times and did some investigations.

I’m at the endgame now (I think) in Wilds.

I get the loop of kill > upgrade > kill more > repeat. I’m working towards some armour and going to learn all weapons.

What I want to check is how should I be fighting monsters?

Currently I:

• go to an area
• click map
• go to environments > monsters
• select a monster and do ‘start field guide’

Then I go fight and repeat.

Is this correct?

I still have ????? On my weapon and armour screens. Is this because i haven’t fought the tempered version?