I dont mean to sound so noob about this but Ive been playing around with the editors for EE and reading tutorials at the same time. But there's some things that just aren't working.
First, which editor tool should I be using? There's Editor, Editor 64, and Editor DX10+

I want to mention I'm using Blender. I'm exporting models to Collada, but they don't show up in esenthel. (yes, i'm dragging the files into the editor window). So, Collada doesn't work from blender to esenthel. Whether its the old blender or 2.5. But exporting to 3ds max does work with geometry and so does .Obj.

After reading that DirectX can import Geometry, Bones, Animation and everything else into esenthel I tried it with the old blender and the geometry worked, but nothing else did. I went to the Model Editor up top and changed the mode to Animation. But the animation wasn't there and I don't know how to activate the animation timeline bar either. There's no slider for it like blender has. Am I doing something wrong?

Ok, that brings me to my final question and biggest concern. How do I get the animation editor working? Because it worst comes to worst I figure I can just drag all my geometry into esenthel and just use that editor to bone, skin, weight and animate everything. Take some work and getting used to but I think I could do it.

But yeah those are my main concerns for right now. I really appreciate any help.
(just to toss this in there Im not a programmer whatsoever. I'll hire one when its time but I have the worst coding ability in the world)

you can use whichever Editor tool you want

Blender is not good for exporting Collada with animations, 3ds max is recommended for that purpose with open collada external plugin

animation timeline in model editor is at the bottom of the screen when in animation mode

there is video tutorial for animation editor on the main website, and check documentation

so in other words "No 3DS Max = forget it?"

No, that is not at all what he is stating. I have imported various formats such as b3d, ms3d, x. He is only stating what he recommends. That doesn't mean it's the only option.