I also always reduce the materials I gather to NQ so I was glad to have an ability that would remove the HQ component for me and give me a little bump in return. But I would like it if the amount you gather per swing is a little higher OR if the GP cost was a little lower. I was getting 2 shards per swing while gathering granite last night so it may very well be the amount you get is determined by the node level.

For a lot of crafters, HQ materials are useless because you don't need them to reliably HQ beyond the highest level recipes available to you. They're a waste of inventory space, so we lower quality. Abilities like this are great for people like us.