I'd rather not have retainers getting involved in activities like gathering and crafting. I played Star Wars: The Old Republic while it was beta and again briefly after it was released via a trial version.

In that game you had companions who could obtain crew skills which could be used to gather and craft items, I was constantly sending these companions out to just get junk for me to sell, and the crafting and gathering of the game were really cheapened by the lack of any hands on approach that we have in FFXIV. I liked crafting and gathering in 1.0, and I loved it even more in ARR's alpha.