I plan to do a comparison this weekend but I havent inventoried it yet. However, it feels underwhelming even with the additional tiers.
Right, that’s certainly possible but it feels like a bit of a bait and switch if someone jumps right in and spends money on a shortened Quest Pass window.

The task credit is very likely tied to advancement of the Progress → Followers → Craft “xxx” achievement. That achievement, which counts crafts by followers, explicitly states that only “Weapons, Armor, Spells, or Minions” crafted counts for advancing the achievement
Seems reasonable, but “things” certainly sounds like it should include shards and loot tickets.