I had an idea, thought I'd share.
How bout spicing up gathering abit with something like hidden nodes.
They're only unlocked after gathering in an area for an amount of time.
This could be dependent on perception.
Let's say you're gathering in an area and every 10 nodes one of these unlocks with a message saying "You start getting a feel for the area, you sense an untapped resource nearby."
After this it you have the option of tracking down this hidden node.
Can attach some sort of neat mini-game to finding it.
When found, it could hold rare items only found gathering through this means, or an abundance of rare items that can already be gathered in this area. (even waive the 1per swipe limit that's held on certain current gatherable items)
I know it's kinda late in the game for ideas like this haha, but I thought it was neat.
Also, thanks for all the hard work devs. The game is really shaping up