Crafting is still more or less a minigame, but they've done a lot of revamps to it so that the abilities are more transparent in what they do and that the process goes a lot quicker.

If you want to make the most out of crafting you need to have multiple crafts leveled up to learn the different abilities to make HQ equipment.

If you want to make some easy money in the short term, I'd go with gathering. That way you will have a gatherer leveled up to gather your own materials when you go back and level your crafts, making your profits larger from not having to buy materials. Mining might be the more profitable one out of the three since 3 different crafts primarily make use of the ores and gemstones. I'd check your local server market though to see where you can make the best money.