But it's also adding inventory bloat, and lack of inventory space is one of the most common player complaints. It's something SE needed to address and gathering was an obvious target. It's harder for them to remove gathered materials in general because gatherers want new items to gather just as players interested in combat want new mobs to fight. Removing what's essentially a duplicate material becomes an easy choice. Most crafters are already reducing any HQ they get to NQ because they don't need HQ and it saves space. SE is adding QoL by removing the need to players to manually engage that extra step.
I think it's a change that players will rapidly settle into easily enough though it would help if SE were to add in back in some RNG element. Rare hidden items would be an example of something that could make a comeback. Instead of being mostly useless seeds, they could be items needed to craft minions/housing items/glamours. Luck of the Pioneer/Mountaineer could be retooled to have a GP cost and offer a x% chance for the node's rare hidden item to appear after the next gathering attempt. Being rare and hidden, the item would not be affected by any active yield bonuses and would disappear after being gathered once. That would keep supply low and value high, giving gatherers a reason to keep trying to obtain the item.
