[Disclaimer]Let me start by saying I won't be held accountable for any previous posts on this subject since bringing this up again (as I'm sure it's been brought up) will likely result in squeaky-wheel syndrome at some point. [/Disclaimer]
Having said that..
My biped (Gweebus) started construction classes.. all five of them at level one. I also started two helpers that were level 1 gatherers.
Fast forward two weeks.
Gweebus is now 20-25 in every construction class. My gatherers.. are level 16 and barely that. ANd that's after almost 100 trips each to the gatherer trainer doing "craft 15" for the pathetic 500 exp per trip deal and you don't even get any tokens.
So here's are the various suggestions in no specific order.. if any ONE of these gets implemented I think gatherer will be much more viable:
1. Give gatherer some type of secondary skill like metalworking or stoneworking or something that will allow them to actually MAKE things.. they get the strong ability to deconstruct things (salvaging I think).. but what good is that if they're not capable of deconstructing anything?
2. Boost (and I mean like 3x or more) the exp for the gatherer turn-ins. at 500 exp per turn in.. with 14K for level 16 and obviously more for the rest till 20.. that's too many trips.. just for level 16, more for 17, more for 18, more for 19 and even more still to finally get to 20 where I can start turn-in quests for T2 vs. "create 15" ones.
3. Make "turn in" quests (the ones where they don't care where you got it from, you just turn it in) stretch the full breadth of gathering not just the first half of a tier.
4. Make "turn in" quests call for greater quantities for greater exp (same amount, but less trips) in conjunction with the lower amounts. I.E. asking for 500 raw essence would take the place of asking for 50 at a time and would net 10x the amount of the 50 (speeds things up).
5. Give some tokens? Just because gatherer doesn't actually MAKE anything doesn't mean we can't use the tokens for something else. Or, better yet, have them give IBMs so we can buy techs. Or just take out the gift of money and just add more exp (see number 1).
Any one or combination (OR ALL!) of these would, in my humble opinion, make Gatherer a much better and viable line of crafting.
The bottom line is.. any other class (besides maybe Miner, I have no experience with that one) you get exp for processing raw materials, you get exp for fashioning an item relating to the skills you use for that class, you get exp for deconstructing or, for construction classes, for placing the item. The exp you get involves at least 3 sources in any case.
Gatherer focuses on one source, processing raw materials. So that one should be equal (or at least balanced) when compared to the others teaching the same skills. If it can't be due to coding issues, we need to find some way to make it at least somewhat balanced with the exp you get with other classes.
I'm sure this is an age-old argument or suggestion. But given how well the devs listen on here, I can't imagine why a rational suggestion for a broken class wouldn't be at least considered
I've heard the suggestion to "bootstrap" with another class but that doesn't solve the exp issues with the class by itself.