I didn't like the game at all. And the majority of the game is largely based in crafting. There is more to the game, but due to the majority of players playing solely for the crafting in the game, that is where the development is going with this.
I would recommend listening to the Massively.com podcast, I believe the one about 2-3 weeks ago had a good 30 minutes of talking about this game and they mention it at least for a few minutes in every episode. They also have a whole portion of their website dedicated to this game. Give it a look and you'll learn tons.