My gaming time has been really restricted over the last half-week. I’m writing furiously to finish my next D&D module for publication. However, I have been logging into Evequest 2 every day to sort Overseer missions, and to sometimes do the daily tasks. Whether I play long enough to do the daily depends on what the task options are. One that I usually will head out to do, is the “Harvest 40 resources”. It’s super easy to do and encourages me to just get out and fly around whatever zone I fancy gathering resources in. In this game I don’t even have to dismount to gather materials.
I usually gather on my characters with flying unlocked as it makes for very relaxed gathering gameplay. Zooming around a landscape feels like virtual tourism, diving down to gather and then soaring back up to carry on the loop. Very few creatures challenge my efforts and I usually spend a bit longer than absolutely necessary, 40 resources doesn’t usually take that long to gather. Characters can gather any resources, so I can always gather some extra ore, wood or cooking materials or whatever if I feel I’m running low of something.
Gathering while mounted in EQ2
I can contrast this with World of Warcraft Classic where gathering is a pain for several reasons. Firstly there’s no flying and there’s most definitely “grey aggro“, if you ride to close to a creature of any level it will attack your character and possibly dismount you. In EQ2, lower level hostile creatures (those that con grey) actively cower from your presence. In WoW Classic there’s no flying, there can be intense competition for nodes in later zones and hostile monsters can make gathering a pain.
My mageroyal, not lizard chow!
I guess it’s very much a clash of eras of gaming. If I played on an EQ2 progression server in future I’d come across many of the same issues – no flying, more competition for nodes and the increased danger from wandering wildlife. Conversely, I rarely play WoW Retail for long enough to do much gathering, but I could benefit from a relatively easy gathering experience at least compared to Classic.
I appreciate having a gameplay loop that’s low stress. Travelling around as more of a pleasure than a time-sink or chore is also a plus in my opinion. What about you dear reader? Do you prefer gathering to be a high or low risk activity in MMORPGs?
GamingSF 
Gathering in EQII is one of the few things that was always very easy by genre standards, even back at launch. Even with competition from other players and agressive wildlife, there were always just so many nodes you could gather pretty much non-stop. The nodes also cluster, follow a definable re-spawn pattern and roughly conform to some kind of logical placement (ore next to rocky ares, plants on grassland etc).
If you do the major crafting and gathering questlines, spend the relevant AA points and make or buy the relevant equipment you also get a plethora of gear and abilities to enhance your productivity. I usually get those 40 gathers in less than thirty seconds these days, with a single node often giving me more than a dozen materials.
By contrast, when I was playing Classic, it took me many hours to gather copper to level Blacksmithing in the single figures. It was a major undertaking in terms of both time and effort. I still enjoyed it, though. I’d be hard put to think of an MMORPG that has gathering i don’t enjoy. I find it an intrinsically enjoyable activity, I guess, however it’s implemented.