Reduced time investment means that more gatherers that balked at it before are going to give it a shot.
More gatherers using favors means that more material is going to make it to the marketplace.
More materials on the marketplace means that the prices will go down, and crafters will find buying materials to be more of an option.
For the entirely self-sufficient crafter who gathers it all herself and crafts it all herself, her per-week output has not changed. But even for her, she now only need to spend a third of the time gathering. That, all by itself, is pretty awesome, even if you discount the above points.
Sounds like an improvement to me. Time will tell.
