Harvesting under pressure

So I have no definitive proof but it seems like pretty much every time I'm harvesting while being attacked, it gives me the maximum return. As in the node doesn't exhaust itself until after 3 or so successful pulls. Same area nodes while not being attacked are always quick, and always exhaust in 1 hit.

For now... if you want maximized harvesting, keep that mob attacking you as you move from node to node ;-)

 

I thought so too, also sometimes it seems that gathering finishes faster when under attack, and almost always successfully.