Curious how to get the best weapons and armor. Will it be through instances, crafting, quest, all of the above??? Do bosses or mobs drop random loot?

As far as i know it's from cragting.

Bosses drop pretty good gear but I would say that Crafting is the best way for the best gear. That doesn't mean you should Craft, although I suggest it, but you could always get a friend to supply you with gear or a guild.

I'd say crafting. I've been running with my own crafted armor and haven't found something better than that.

Crafted and improved and improved unique drops are both the "best". Depends a lot on what you are trying to accomplish with the particular piece of gear.

in the interview today the dev said "crafted gear is better than dropped gear legendaries do not drop"

Do you improve dropped gear by using the crafting skill??

Yes. Yes you do, and it tastes great. Less filling too.

Well, considering crafters can imprint attributes onto their weapons and armor, improve the quality with rare crafting materials, and enchant the finished product, I'm hoping that player made items will be the best.

Apparently crafted yea. However it has been said, that drops will have some unique enchantments you cannot get via crafting, so enhancing rare drops would be viable as well

Indeed. Each level of improvement costs a certain and rare resource like Honing Stone for Blacksmithing and Hemp (?) for Clothing. For each item yields a 20% chance of successfully improving the item. Obviously using 5 of the improvement resources will grant 100% success.