Perception does make a difference, but in my experience things like time/day/moon seem to make a large difference as well. Of course I can't say exactly. I can say that my largest hauls have been during a new moon phase at night. My dryest spells seem to occur during the day in the waning and waxing phases. I never really paid attention to *what* day it is but that is what ive noticed. Perception does make a difference, but after a certain point its probably hardly noticeable anymore. Ive been everywhere from 147 to 170ish. Honestly I never really noticed a statistical difference. But the night/moon/day thing I was talking about was a huuuuge difference for me. Like woah lol.

Also make sure you pump your main stats, either VIT or MND. Ive noticed having my stats higher affects ability activation and whatnot. Master of Rock is your friend..ive gotten 5/8 hqs because of it at times. Btw the HQ rate on something like Gold Ore is insanely low. So if thats ever your benchmark i'm telling you its not you.