Its hard to compare them as they are very different beasts, but I will make some points of comparison:
- Resources are simple -- no quality differences; however, there are, rumor has it, rare resources that can be used to make the best items.
- The crafting process itself is much more involved -- no grind macros in this game. Creating a piece involves working through several stages (for a cloak it may be cleaning the cloth and measuring it out, sewing the piece, and folding it for delivery). At each stage you have actions you can perform to improve the quality of the piece and advance the work with a limit on the number of actions you can perform across the whole job.
- There is much more randomness in the steps and your skill, tools, and clothing as well as the quality of your intermediate products has a great deal to do with how good the final outcome is. Also, complications can pop up that degrade your actions unless you take action to fix them.
- Any product (intermediate or final) has 4 quality levels; however, you can add enhancements at various points in the process to create items with specific properties (e.g., improved damage).
- No Factories or Harvesters.
- A lot of the visual customization is (as far as I can tell) still on the drawing board (extensive color control and the like) and I think I read that street ware is a future develoment (but I may be wrong).
- Most of your level grind will be doing work orders for various people you meet in the world. You get the basic resources for free; however, you have to pay for any consumables (cleaners, solvents, etc.). You earn enough from the work orders to turn a small profit and occasionally get some really nice clothing and other equipment as a reward. -- basicly the work orders should be the fastest way to level and are not a money sink.
Aside from that, not much difference at all.