I too share this frustration but what I didn't see in this thread is the equipment ilevel (or gathering requirements if mine/bot). I spent thousands of gil equipping my 2 level 50 miners to get the gathering up to 383 and my other 2 retainers to ilevel 70 so they could run their respective xii level 17 hour missions and only come back with Coeurl meat. That is insane. I have a level 80 coat for my bard I spent a fortune on and in order to get a level 383 gathering number you have to meld all kinds of stuff to it and they only come back with junk. This has been a major disappointment. One thing if they were Ilevel 10 or no melded equip, but come on already. I get the RNG but this is silly.