Lets find out. Findings are interesting.

 

End game Chest Piece (Non Crafted)

http://db.darthhater.com/items/18853/ancient_sithari_cuirass/

+42 Attack Power

+75 Strength

+92 Endurance

+39 Accuracy

+34 Strength (Augment)

No crafting potential of Specific stats such as alacrity,surge, Def rating... Since this is not a crafted item.

 

End Game Crafting Chest Piece

http://db.darthhater.com/recipes/2385/exotech_vindicators_chestguard/

+53 Attack Power

+93 Strength

+116 Endurance

+48 Accuracy

+34 Strength from (Augment) Now this is meant for DPS

 

With this you can crit and gain an augment slot since it is craft able. Also The added stats of Def Rating, Alacrity, Surge... and all those stats will be added once crafted depending on the item it is not shown here. (Note NOT all Specific stats will be added IE u May only have 3 of a specific type such as Surge, Alacrity, and Def Rating.)

 

Now lets take an Augement: For strength it is 34

http://db.darthhater.com/items/42882/advanced_might_augment_25/

 

This may clear things up, note you need the recipe for crafting which is obtained through raids/flash points/Ops, and also the crafting materials some are from raiding. This does not take raiding out of the picture at all. To my knowledge this not only works with sythweaving but also other Crafting Professions. Now the augments and and materials will be harder to obtained as well as even getting up to Master craft on your piece of equipment for upgrading; therefore, it will take longer time to obtain a better piece of equipment rather than raiding equipment. As far as PvP goes... Crafting gear wont stand a chance when competing with the obtainable PvP gear, but it does match up to and outshines raiding gear. At this stage of the game its in now.

Wouldn't you need to first identify where the first chestpiece drops, rather then just identify it as endgame?