can't find the search option in the forums for some reason. what is the difference between right clicking on a gathering node and having your companion gather it or shift-right clicking and gathering it yourself? any benefit to one or the other?

If your companion does it for you, you can use your regeneration skill in the meantime or do other things. If you do it, then your companion can do it on a 2nd one at the same time.

 

There is no difference in the results.

ok, the results are the same. that was what i was mainly curious about. thanks.

I had assumed that they just gave you the ability to gather instead of your companion so that you could still pick up nodes while they were off on a mission.

I thought it was because you can have your companion gather while you are fighting, because you can't do it yourself while in combat.... I might be wrong though.

Some companions also have crit percentage to gathering skills.

This is also useful for some skills, such as Bioanalysis and Scavenging, when you can pull multiple harvest-able mobs and you can harvest one while your companion harvests another.