Tbh profit from cooking is very minimal compared selling mats because meat is so expensive. People tend to exaggerate but they havent properly calculated it takes to travel/micromanage. 

Example if you cook, you have count minutes it takes to:

1. browse market to buy stuff

2. babysit/arrenge mats in utinsil and inside bag. + install new utinsils.

3. Travel from gather location/market place/residence

For grinding you literally log char in grinding location and start right away. Doing that 30mins might aswell be bigger profit than micromanaging cooking 4 hours.

If you dont have loot scrolls +261k gear though then gathering/cooking is fine. 

Trying to find free spot 

Switch switch switch server

Finaly you found free spot

5 min later dfs

15min later dfs

You loose your dfs

Trying to find free spot

Switch switch.......

If you need 4 hours manage cooking...yeah...you are doing something VERY wrong.

You are trying to make money using gathering..... there, I pointed out your problem.

Gathering is a joke now for income... when you can go grind Orc for an hour and make over 400m wtf are you doing smacking trees for Caphras.... sorry bruv, your playstyle is just dated, you are trying to cram a Squre peg into a round hole now and wondering why it wont fit.

CHANGE YOUR PLAYSTYLE to adapt to the game, not force the game to adapt to your dated crappy playstyle.

Those who change with the times, will stay relevant, soon as you do what you are doing, you become pointless.

I agree. Endgame areas like orcs/SE can be cancerous.

I was thinking areas like aakman which are usually empty. Thats solid 100+ mil/h for avarage folks who have 245k-269k for avarage player

I meant micromanaging during that 4h afk cooking. Lets assume you buy everything from market and cook 4h. How much revenue do you actually get during that time? And how much IRL time you spent during that cooking. That was my point. Everything should be counted.

Who the hell AFK cooks for 4 hours at a time?!?  Considering unless you use Calpheon tools, you will run out of dura on your tools super fast.  Even if you have a supreme tool and have the procs to use that up entirely, you are done in like an hour and a half.  With advanced tools, you are looking at like 15 min.  Just about the right time to get dinner ready to eat.  Maybe take 2 or three cycles depending on what I wanna eat.  Grab the next batch of mats and have it going while you eat dinner.  Grab the next batch and have it go while you clean up after dinner.  Hey look, spending a min or two of setup while making dinner and eating dinner means I make an extra 220 mil a day.  Yes it also means I do need to spend some of my active time gathering things...but you know what, after I take a shower for the night, I don't feel like grinding and spending 30 min gathering while I wait for my hair to dry is a nice way to wind down before bed.  

no one gathered for caphras regardless, your argument isn't realistic to begin with

And some people will not jump on another activity simply because other players see it as "optimal".

Take a player who is mainly lifeskilling by choice, do you really think he will suddenly begin to grind simply based on the opinion of others, even if he has the gear to do it efficiently?

Someone recently said it on these forums, right on point : when you begin to ask how you can make something more efficiently, you're probably already losing interest for the game. 

if gathering is dead... why are there gathered items being listed daily??   if gathering is dead how are there constantly meals  potions  perfumes and more crafted items that require gathered items being posted hourly??

and the person who said  dont cook ur own meals  just buy them... if everyone did that the market would dry up super fast and not a single person in game would ever be able to do imperial boxs ever again until someone   somewhere began gathering and cooking again...

heck  most of the buffs yalls use for pve grinds.... pvp... come from.. well items crafted by stuff that people.... GATHERED..

so to say gathering is dead which would imply no one does it anymore is soo dumb and false its beyond laughable