True story; a week ago I was level 31 and I visited a level 34 area that was labeled suitable for groups and I didn't die.
People who prefer groups will tell you that you need to group; think about it, it makes for more candidates to add to their groups if they can spread the idea, plus it really is, easier, even if it isn't necessary.  The long and short of it is that you can make Alter work for you rather than you having to work for alter.  People swear up and down by the druid class but it just never did it for me; it's too mana abusive compared to the necro class which, though it has recently seen questionable changes, contains more inviting equipment and a greater amount of versatile minions.
Even within the ranks of players who play the necro classs well there is heavily disputed subjects on everything from what class to couple it with to early aging and its efficacy.  Some people use demons for everything, while others steer clear of them and prefer bulking up on scrolls and potions.  Some people love metal constructs, while others love mummies, and still others love woads or shadow fiends.  Some people use necros in groups and some people run them solo.  Some people still depend a ton on bone armor and bone shields, while others find equipment to make up for armor class.  Some people poke around through all of the above and more to find what they feel works best.
It is my personal opinion that the only thing worse than dying on Alter is wrestling with the possibility that you might not have died.  In the end, it's just a game and the world doesn't stop even if you do lose millions of xp.  Preparing properly however, will minimize that chance.  There's a ton of obvious but usually overlooked advice people tend to forget which ends up costing them resources and in extreme cases leads to previously mentioned dying.  Don't be afraid to run from a fight; it doesn't hurt anything.  Don't stand there if you're not dishing out more damage to a mob than it causes you.  Consider consider consider; learn all you can about animal lore and monster lore and such to obtain information about what might assist you when fighting things.  Scouting spells exist if you're in an unfamiliar area; feel free to learn and use them to get an idea of where you're going and what or who might be lurking there without getting hurt.  if you can't beat a certain mob now, try it again later.  If you insist on trying it now, try to figure out why you can't beat it before you try again.  Many players sell scribed scrolls that dish out more damage than you might be able to; buy and use them on mobs.  Buy credits with real money, and then buy a weightless container.  Can't afford a weightless?  Buy tensors on the auction block or learn it yourself.  Wands and spellstaffs can conserve your mana; use them to do so.  Still feeling somewhat weary or more conservative?  Run lower areas that don't necessarily seem to give you as much xp as a higher area would; you'll run them faster and before you know it you'll have accumulated enough XP to run your heart's desires.
Of all the online games I've ever played, Alter is the most forgiving in many respects.  Resetting is a thing if you don't feel like your character is progressing well enough.  Creating alts is also a thing; many people do it, myself included.  Staying low level for a long time allows you to gain xp from many areas you can rotate through with ease, plus gives your character time to age, a huge bonus if you're magical.  Staying low level also provides a massive bonus to those who love grouping, a high percentage of being rescued from the brink of death and being transported to one's previous waypoint.  Save up quests and do them later; you can maximise the amount of xp you gain doing them that way.  Ignore everyone's advice for awhile and try to find your own way; that's what I did, which is why I'm here writing about it.  You might find something I've overlooked during the past 6 years.

Is there anything of a crafting system involved? I remember there being something of one, but I can't remember how involved it was.

ah, appologies if my comments about Druid came across as more proscriptive than descriptive, I am just having lots of fun with a druid as compared to when I got stuck with a clerric warrior, though admitedly that was back in the days before a lot of stuff got added to clerric such as summoning divine minians and making ungwents and things.
I'd rather not run around with a big bunch of xp just in case, but hay I'll probably go back to Kordan and do the level 14 quest just for the sake of the quest even though it's waaaay below my level because I like quests, so it doesn't matter too much, I enjoy the game for the exploring and questing more  than for just the xp gathering.

As to crafting, well right now you can make leather armor, though that is more a gymmic and a bit of fun for xp with corpses than making anything serious, and you can apparently make stone tools and weapons though I've not got the skill for that. Cooking I believe is in the works.
There are various enchant skills however for altering items you find, from tailoring to calving runes on them to blessing or enchanting items as a clerric.
My favourite thing in Alteraeon  however crafting wise is brewing. Druids can brew salves and tinctures with various effects, clerrics can brew ungwents, and thieves can brew poisons.

Brewing salves and tinctures is actually really useful as a druid since you can get some good  protections and affects from both, plus I do rather enjoy the process of gathering herbs and looking through them to see what I can make.
The real fun though if you want to get a bit mad scientist like is brewing potions as a mage, since you essentially stick stuf into a pot and see what comes out.
Sometimes it's something really helpful, sometimes it's something deadly, I even rather commically died after using a potion, not realizing that while it had a great protection spell it also came with a nasty bit of frost web to it too .

So, crafting in the clok sense of chopping trees and building things?  not exactly. However fun none combat stuff to dodo that involve gathering resources and playing with them to see what you can create? most certainly.