What does the mining skill "preparation" actually do?

[EmmetOtter]

I'm currently level 48 in mining and I'm wondering what this skill actually does since its description is extremely vague ("Reveals the conditions for obtaining HQ items while gathering").

Having it on or off doesn't seem to make any difference in HQ items being available in the node. It doesn't effect the % HQ drop rate. Nor does it make any difference in finding mining nodes. It never seems to make a tangible difference ever.

Is this a skill that only becomes useful later?

[Jojoya]

It displays how much Perception you'll need to have a chance at getting a HQ item. It's helpful if you're undergeared so you know how much more Perception you need if getting an HQ item is important (like for a class quest) but that's about it.

[EmmetOtter]

Thank you.

I see that now

[Espritduo]

Great way to tell a bot, too. For some reason the common botting programs people use always use Preparation at the start of every node. No human would have a reason to do this, so if you see a high-level gatherer popping Prep at the start, multiple times, very high chance you're watching a bot.

[KageTokage]

I have a hunch the reason bots use Preparation is actually as a toggle for starting/stopping their script without having to interact with something outside of the game itself.

I've seen some of the regulars on my server acting normally in towns right up until the moment where they turned on Preparation, after which they immediately started behaving strangely. It's especially noticeable if you hang out in the Firmament in the later hours of the day as you're bound to spot some people initiating a Diadem botting script before they go to sleep.