The crafting is decent in the game. It is basically like WoW's system, but with the trainers also selling the materials needed to make potions, leathers, armors. The mats are not hugely difficult to gather at the low end, but become increasingly difficult as you level up (sign of a well thought out system IMO).
I am looking to get to level 42 to try out all the new content and hoping to get some friends to really test the PvP since going in solo is not as fun as with a group of friends. I am going to test out the faction to see how well their starting zone is since I have focused only on the Defiant side. Hoping to also see more balanced souls that not one player can basically stay alive or do so much more damage/healing than another dps/healer.
The PvE is a mixture of soloing and grouping depending on if rifts are around and how you wish to run through the game. The quests are not overly time consuming, but there are a bunch of them if you wish to do them. Instances are difficult if not with a decent group (at least in previous betas), but there are opportunities to join the rift groups if you wish. There is really no need to grind away at anything due to the amount of quests, but if you wish, there are certain locations that are definitely worth just sitting and grinding away. This might change in retail since Trion has said a lot of the server testing and other things like respawn, difficulty, etc. will be lowered or stay the same.