Best approach to unspoiled nodes?

[Castillan]

HQ items are the only way to go. The market for NQs is over saturated and there is hardly any demand for NQ. What I do (I do not have melded gear yet just HQ Artifact stuffs) is Toil then Leaf 1 and FieldM2. I usually get one HQ swing normally and then I always get my for sure HQ swing on the last hit with Brunt Force.

Let's assume a base 2% HQ chance.

Your way gives 5 gathers at 12% HQ chance at 100% success, plus 1 gather at 100%, or on average => 1.60 HQ gathers per node

My way gives 5 gathers at 32% HQ chance at 90% success, plus a 0.9^5 = ~59% chance at a 100% HQ gather chance at 100% success, for 5*0.32*0.9 + 0.59 => 2.03 HQ gathers per node.

If you want more HQ's per gather, on average, then do it my way. Statistically it works out better in the long term.

[StouterTaru]

My way gives 5 gathers at 32% HQ chance at 90% success, plus a 0.9^5 = ~59% chance at a 100% HQ gather chance at 100% success, for 5*0.32*0.9 + 0.59 => 2.03 HQ gathers per node.

You skipped the chance at HQ if you don't hit all of your first 5 swings, it boosts it to about 2.14 HQ swings per node.

In the end, your way gets under 10 NQ and 6.5 HQ per node, if the RNG gods do as they say they will.

I get 25 NQ per node. I'll take my 15 extra NQ over your 6.5 HQ, but I'm one of those crafters that only needs NQ items.