Does the Gather mechanism make a difference?

[Geeks On Hugs]

I've not noticed a difference in the final product of gathering if I do it pristine and in the right conditions versus not? Does it not make a difference?

Edit: I was just searching for more information on this and from what I gather (no pun intended) it makes a difference in final products crafted with the gathered material. Can anyone confirm this? Still, if this is the case, it would be nice to know which individual item is pristine or not so that you can use the right one when crafting an item that you want to be as good as possible.

[danmak27]

I can confirm that it makes a difference in the final products.

Text copied from "gamersguide.com" :
As you play through Avatar, you’ll find that you come across materials of three different types in the wild: Fine, Superior, and Exquisite. Not all materials will be defined by these three categories since some have a single purpose, such as Dapophet plants which are exclusively used as healing items for your health pouch. However, any materials that are used in crafting can be found in their Fine, Superior, and Exquisite variants. You can see the rarity of a material at a glance by using your Na’vi sense, which will allow you to inspect it from afar and see the color associated with it, as shown in the screenshot below.

The Fine, Superior, and Exquisite rarity categories each have their own color associated with them. Fine is associated with green, Superior is associated with purple, and Exquisite is associated with yellow. Look for the color on the outline of the material as you inspect it using your Na’vi sense.

Other than inspecting materials with your Na’vi sense to check their rarity before you harvest them, you can always just pick them anyway and then inspect them in your inventory, where you’ll see their rarity clearly stated in the top left of the pop-up box as you hover over the material.

When and if on the site you can go straight to this info by looking at the left panel on the website clicking "Resources."

Other:
I just googled this text: "gamersguide avatar resources," (without quotes) and the website with the "Pale materials" locations popped up at the top of the list.
(May be different for you)
When on the web page you can see just above the text in the middle to click through other materials for locations.
In this case: "Where to find bruised moss in Avatar."
Down the page it will tell you which conditions needed for picking exquisite materials.
If you find it weird that I quote a website it's because it's six months ago that I played the game and can't remember all the details anymore.
I hope it helps.

[MugHug]

danmak27 seems to explain it well.

[Geeks On Hugs]

Awesome!

Thanks guys! :-)

[Robin]

danmak27 doesn't even mention "pristine", so I'm not sure how this explains it?

[DrBonifarz]

Bump this six months later? Why not...

To answer the question: Yes, it matters, but when the right food buffs are active, you get the ideal stats regardless of gathering conditions. So stock up on same tasty mushroom pie and don't worry about the weather or your shaky hands.

The market answer above explains some aspects of quality tiers and pale variants, which are both item spawn attributes - and thus independent from gethering conditions. These conditions, like weather criteria or pristine harvests, do have an effect on the item stats. The quality tiers have their separate ranges for these stats. And pale materials are item variants with their own special effects and stat ranges. "Stats" refers mainly to weapon damage and armor defense, which are additive across all crafting materials used. Some special effects also scale with gathering or hunting conditions (e.g. Thanator health buffs benefit from clean kill bonuses).

And of course, you will observe a big bump on material stats once you unlock the master crafter skill, and whenever food buffs are active that raise material base stats by a percentage.