The main areas of the game - where most of your time is likely to be spent - will be and are safe from
PvP. The paths between these areas are PvP, but without any possibility of losing anything other than time and players do not gain skills from killing each other. Outside of these areas and paths the PvP levels raise up so that the further from "civilization" you are, the more stuff is possible to be lost to another player, but strategic and careful management of your loot will prevent loss of most stuff unless you go to the highest PvP regions. In addition, there's a system in place to prevent PvP abuse so that someone that kills you in any PvP area more than five times in a row in under an hour will be stuck in the
Disciplinary Camp for a good chunk of time.
The crafting system is unique and interesting. Take a look through the
Crafting Tutorial to get a simple idea of what's involved.