The Otherland team has posted the extensive notes from the latest game update. Most significantly, crafting has been completely reworked and that will "make crafted items the backbone of gearing up to steer Otherland towards a more player driven economy".
According to the patch notes, the goal is to have crafted items becoming the best in the game that will be superior to any drops outside of a boss encounters.
The changes are interesting and can be read on the Otherland forum.
