@ Hanz-knife & Khan-Bjornsen
Why do you think we know nothing about the MMO? As i understand it LiF:YO is just the testing ground for the MMO. The MMO will be just the same as YO with a bigger server (10000+), a bigger map (21x21) (if you click on Account and then on Server Status you can even look at the map for the MMO) and slightly different claim and guild mechanics. The server settings will also be more strict than in YO, as far as i know skill progression will be 1 and skill cap will be 600 (i think up to 700 if you include intelligence bonus) and you won't be able to create more than one character unless you pay for more.Therefore it definately makes sense to keep the MMO in mind.
As far as i know it wasn't planed to develop LiF:YO. Due to the lack of funding they couldn't start developing a MMO right away, so they created YO as a compromise and intermediate step to finance the MMO.
Now, about the calculation:
With my calculation i wanted to clarify, that you have to specialise your character, since you can only master one skill line. Anything but mastering high tier skills makes no sense, since maximum quality of any product is limited by your skill. It is only logical, that quality will be more important later on (A q=100 sword makes more damage than a sword with less quality). Therefore your 100+60+60+60 calculation is not very smart. 60 nature's lore means you are not able to find pristine herbs (q up to 100), 60 gathering means you can't gather pristine herbs and herbalism 60 means you can't produce stuff with more than 60 quality, even if you have q=100 resources.They all have to be at least 90. But anyways, that is not my point. My point is, that if you specialise, you will have to spend most of your gaming time with your chosen skill line. And in case of Herbalism/Alchemy line, the most time consuming skill is gathering. Of course you can do some other stuff on the side, but only using tier 1 or 2 skills. In case of a Herbalist it would make sense to combine it with Fishing/Hunting and Farming and to have some points in Piety (30 to be able to increase your Alignment). Also you need to spend some time on your fighting skills, since wars are inevitable. Question is: How many hours do you spend in game?
And to make it worse:
Flux and Naphta (and Food Flavor) are the only basic resources that require trading to increase production output in a significant way, due to the random nature of herb effects. And with basic resources i mean resources, that are produced out of gathered resources and needed to build or craft other stuff. The only purpose of Flux is to make steel, nothing else, while every other ingredient has more than one purpose. Also it is very difficult to find high quality Flux-Herbs, even with 100 Nature's Lore, therefore most of your product will be of inferior Quality. Herbalism is only good for 3 things, Naphta, Flux and Food Flavor, since all the preparations are useless without Alchemy. And with Alchemy you won't need those preparations, because you can do it directly with Alchemy out of the herbs. Well, even Naphta, Flux and Food Flavor can be prepared with Alchemy the same way, in fact even better. Food Flavor is so absolutely useless, since you don't need high quality cooked food if you have apples.
To sum it all up: The whole skill line is mostly good for 2 things, Naphta and Flux, and on the side you may produce some potions, which are mostly unnecessary and require alcohol (Farming/Cooking), and help healing wounds of other players.
And that is all beside the point, that the whole Flux thing is unrealistic, as i said, Herbalism should not be involved in steel production. And in this game, Herbalism is all about steel and lampoil (aka Naphta) production. And Herbalism gets replaced as soon as Alchemy is leveled up.
I find that highly unsatisfying. Well, of course it is an early access game, but release is in October (!), and there are no signs, that this will be improved anytime soon.
But don't get me wrong, i still love the game, it has so much potential, but if some things don't improve in future updates i might lose interest.
I actually don't mind if the steel production is time consuming, but i find the process of this production unrealistic and boring.
But you are right with one thing, of course you can have 4 Herbalists in a guild of 40 people, but it takes some time to get there... you start with guild cap of 5 people, then 10, then 20 and finally 40 with a monument level you can't reach as you cannot produce vostaskus steel yet.