You are right Burni, it would get way too easy to gather high quality items like this. They would have to change the 'find herbs' mechanism first, to make it impossible to find different herbs on the same spot every time you search there. A spot that has been harvested should have to regenerate over a certain time until you can find anything usefull there again. This time could be shortened if you didn't harvest the roots or left some seeds behind... but don't get me wrong, if you leave a q=100 root or seeds behind, there shouldn't autoomatically grow a q=100 herb back.
There could also be different tools for harvesting herbs like of course the sickle, a small knife, a small pointy shovel, tweezers to ensure you don't damage the herb parts (spoils faster). And some special containers like small glass bottles to make sure herbs don't decrease in quality on the way home. This idea would make it necessary to introduce
spoilage of course.
I don't know if all the ideas here are at all possible to implement, i am no software engeneer, but some changes in the gathering system would make gathering so much more interesting.
This would fix the main problem with gathering, not with herbalism. The problem with herbalism is that it is too simple. You just combine 2 or 3 different herbs in your mortar to create a preparation or flux, naphta, food flavor. There is no variation, just one tool, one mechanism and no complex preparation. But there could be so much more... extracting oil, cooking herbal teas, fermenting herbs, drying herbs and so on. Ingredients should also not only be herbs but could be of mineral or of animal origin. But i guess ingredients of animal origin will be implemented, as you can already find all these strange items while butchering your animals.
But i am getting off topic...
here is my request regarding this.