A question about gathering HQ materials and using GP efficiently

So I make a lot of food and potions. A handful of the three star Stormblood foods and all the new two star potions. As a crafter, I can HQ these 100% of the time with just a single HQ mat and since I trade in high volume, I go through a lot of materials and therefore, a decent amount of HQ mats. The difference between an HQ material and a non-HQ mat is about 4x for these specific crafts. So, when I need HQ materials I typically try to get them myself when I have a little time to kill in order to reduce production costs.

I know that generally speaking, gathering HQ is really a one-node concern when collecting from legendary nodes. However, when collecting from multiple nodes over an extended period of time, what's the best way you guys have found to gather as many HQ materials as possible?

I've been using Bountiful Yield II since it nets more total items than King's Yield II, even on nodes with +1 gathering attempt. I think the best way I've found is to use Unearth II and four Bountiful Yield II's on nodes with increased yield since it gives four chances at 7 items with 45% chance of HQ.

On the other hand, I've been looking at Nophica's/Nald'thal's Counsel since it's only 10 gp but it seems like a waste. It doesn't seem like a better alternative and I can't help but wonder what the purpose of these skills are, aside from when you have less than 100 GP on a node or something.

I use unearth3. Im leveling crafters and with that and bountiful i get 16 hq items per node in all normal hw nodes. Sb nodes are harder but its better than 2 anyway.

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Originally Posted by Aronos

I've been using Bountiful Yield II since it nets more total items than King's Yield II, even on nodes with +1 gathering attempt. I think the best way I've found is to use Unearth II and four Bountiful Yield II's on nodes with increased yield since it gives four chances at 7 items with 45% chance of HQ..

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Unearth III is guaranteed go over the 30% that Unearth II gives, with the same GP cost even if its only by 1%

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Originally Posted by Aronos

On the other hand, I've been looking at Nophica's/Nald'thal's Counsel since it's only 10 gp but it seems like a waste. It doesn't seem like a better alternative and I can't help but wonder what the purpose of these skills are, aside from when you have less than 100 GP on a node or something.

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I don't know if i'm remembering this correctly, but I think that Counsel just adds on top of everything. If that's the case, you can use it every two swings since you get 5 GP back per swing. If not, whoops.

Yeah, the 10 point skill adds on top of what you already have. So you can toss those out for a minor random boost here and there if you like.