Is there any chance that they will change gathering skills so it doesn't take so long to gather 1 node? or at least decrease the "casting time" when gathering 1 piece of herb/ore/wood?
Not sure if you were around then, but way back when you had to actually pick a node manually (ie: if 5 herbs on node, you needed to click it 5 times). So IMO, it is way better than it used to be, so I personally see no need for any changes.