Get MIN BiS 3.0.5 gear or level BTN to 60? Or both?

[Rioszz]

I am able to reach 703 Gathering and 750 perception and it doesn't improve my ability to collect aetherial reduction nodes or collectible nodes. They are apparently capping the effect of perception on collectible usage.

They are, since the max hit you can do with a methodical is 115.

[TechnoTechie]

That's interesting .. how much Gathering did you meld to your tools to be able to clear the obstruction away from the folklore collectables? I had to do two swings with 616 Gathering, a problem rectified by getting the new MH.

I believe the requirement is 650 gathering to clear in one swing.

What Kith said appears to be correct; I was getting 1-swing clears (on 1-star items) with 658 gathering, but it could be lower. For Chysahl and Adamantite Ore, you can 1-hit clear it with less, I believe around 625?

I am able to reach 703 Gathering and 750 perception and it doesn't improve my ability to collect aetherial reduction nodes or collectible nodes. They are apparently capping the effect of perception on collectible usage.

They are, since the max hit you can do with a methodical is 115.

yep, each item level has a perception cap.
for level 56 items, this is around 535-539 (I couldn't test with anything in between)
for level 58 items, this is around 560 (I was getting max hits at 563, cap is possibly lower)
for level 60 items, this is around 615 (I couldn't find a nearby data point to test with, but I was getting max hits with 652)
for level 60 1-star items, I imagine this number is somewhere around 690-700, a number I arrived at by extrapolating my previous data.