Your point sounds more fit with reality and state of the game than all those clowns who assume everyone:

- has the gear for orcs at optimal proficiency

- has an infinite supply of yellow loot scrolls

- has an infinite supply of agris

- has infinite patience for spot contestation

- magically doesn't lose any loot during contest

The reality is that gathering, despite being less popular, is far from being dead, as already demonstrated with evidence.

Gathering items/equipment is at an all time low because nobody is buying them anymore. Life skillers in general are tired of getting shafted. You assume one is because of another but in reality I've been selling a lot of my overstock after crafting with it because I find it's a great time to clear out my warehouse / storages since I have no immediate plans on gathering (since that crappy patch)

My Seasonal Corsair has 248/250/310 with lootscrolls stats and can get more silver thru caphras doing the daily 2000 kills at Cadries vs my 1500+ Gathering mastery alt chopping woods or mining rocks at the same time.  That's with Alchemy stone/Life Draughts for gathering item drop rate drop boost.  

And yes, i get more Pila fel Scrolls than Hard Sharps at the same time.

just checked 4 pieces of manos clothes and 4 pieces of manos tools... 2 of the clothes are all time high on prices  1 is all time low  and 1 is midrange

of the 4 tools i picked....  1 is all time low  2 are mid range  and the fourth is all time high

all 8 i checked at tet quality which is easily doable to get $$ to buy

i checked all the manos acessories at tri and ...  earrings are low but not all time low... rings are very low but not at all time low  necklaces are at an all time low  and belts are low but not all time low....

soo uhh what do u mean gathering equipment and items are at an all time low cuz of the 8 gears and 4 acessories  only 2 are all time low  and 3 are all time high  rest are mid to low range....   idk what u mean considering the exact what u phrased it  u phrased it as a definitive statement meaning  this is what it is and it isnt otherwise and yet by taking 5 mins to browse the market shows otherwise... now i may agree lifeskilling may not be in the best of places currently but it sure as heck aint in the worst its ever been   

im in a guild full of lifeskillers  i know of at least 3 other full lifeskilling guilds and all are doing well and healthy just like mine  plus florin chat is live and hoppin on a daily basis...

so why do u assume just because ur getting rid of ur stock and items that everyone is?  heck im still working on upgrading my manos items... slowly saving up towards  tet manos alchemy clothes and tet manos tanning knife to complete my clothes and tool collection before i start working on upgrading my tri manos acessories to tet

so all in all  yeah maby some are quitting like u seem to be if im reading the second part of ur statement right.. theres plenty still going strong... just look at the lifeskill discord, horse training discord, or sailing discord if u need further proof of it

not everyone tries to min max everything  some of us play the game to have fun

me personaly  sure my witch with 253/255/313 can do cadries or such but  in all honesty...  smashing my keyboard across my face repeatedly to see which breaks first would be more fun than grinding for hours on end... that said  if ima grind mobs  id rather grind at lekreshan area where im currently pulling an average of  204 mill an hour on my valor that isnt even fully upgraded  

This is exactly what they are not factoring in.  There is no DFS over chopping logs.  There is no mob feeding over chopping logs.  You aren't going to lose your crystals because another player feeds you to mobs...over chopping logs.  You don't end up spending an hour trying to find a spot to begin with over chopping logs...just to have someone show up and feed you...because you said no to DFS.  The whole time we have been getting mob fed, dueling for spot, searching for a new channel....you have been peacefully chopping away at logs....profiting the whole time.  Now add to that life skillers seem to think that they are supposed to have exclusive access to caphras stones.  Caphras stones aren't even for life skill gear.  One would think that life skillers would understand that the materials for enhancing grinding gear...should be more available by grinding than life skilling.  Maybe they should make something that life skillers need available by life skilling instead of caphras stones if this is such an issue.

And what are you supposed to do with said logs? Other than fishing Lifeskilling has no use, Everything your workers can make for you you can find better versions of on the marketplace and the pearl store. Who wants a shabby table covered in splinters when you can buy a luxurious polished one of teh pearl store that gives more benifits. No, what realy kills life skilling and crafting is you cant make boss gear. And you now require boss gear in the later stages of the game.

Lifeskilling is so useless that people like you suck lifeskillers' reproductive organs for them to list their crafts on the market.

I have thousands of every resource just sitting in the bank doing nothing. I dont need to buy anything off the MP. Except for specific leather to make saddles for horses etc. I cant be bothered farming animals to make into leather, to make into fine leather, to make into fine sturdy leather, to make into exquist fine sturdy leather, to make into exceptional fine sturdy leather, to make into elephant saddles.

Such exceptions doesn't change a iota to the rule I described above.

Besides, if you never buy any buff from the market it either means:

- you never buff yourself

- you lifeskill in order to be self sufficient