For those that enjoy doing things in MMORPGs other than your standard leveling, Aion has developed a fairly motivating collecting skill that unlike many MMOs, it is available to players as soon as they start the game.  At first you may under-value the skill and will probably pass quite a few plants that can be collected because you are too busy with getting your character past ascension.  One thing you need to keep in mind is that you gain xp for every item collected with the collecting skill and many later quests will involve the act of collecting which will reward everything from reputation and exp, to items.  

Save yourself the trouble of having to go back to the lower areas by taking the brief time it takes to increase the collecting skill.  It can be frustrating to go back into areas that are too low to hunt in, forcing you to only really be able to collect.

That being said, lets briefly talk about the skill.  Collecting in Aion Beta will, at first, only involve one plant if your starting say, a scout.  Angelica can be found throughout the hunting areas and although I am sure more plants will be added, it will be your only source of increasing the skill for the first 10 points.  

NCsoft did a great job with how they involved the collecting ability in to the game and for the fact that you get to use it at level 1 without having to complete any quests or talk to an NPC.  However, the spawns are not all that clever because all Angelica spots remain the same and carry a steady spawn rate so once you find a few, you just keep coming back to the same spot after enough time has passed to gather it again.  It is convenient, but thoughtless.

Each plant will usually give you 3 tries, with one often blowing up when attempting it.  You will figure out that while other players can not steal your gathering during a specific turn, its 3 turns are first come first serve.  So you will occasionally see a player wait until you complete one try and they will immediately go in for the second.  Overall, this system has not been abused and most players respect your turns if you are there first.

So where are the best places to gather? For beginners, one of the best areas to collect is the Daminu Forest which also adds a second source of harvesting, the Apple Tree.  This new plant works the same as Angelica but the apples are a bit more valuable.  The Daminu Forest is great for hunting, lvl 5 mobs to the south, up to 7 in the north, and there are some rewarding chain quests while you are there.

As you move north to the mines, you will get a third collecting item, Iron.  If you have played any MMO, you know how important Iron is and it is nice that you can get it early on.  The only issue I see is with the economy, it will be interesting to see how it balances out with so many players able to gather these kinds of goods.  As far as higher level content, the Aerial system of Aion will play a huge role in collecting and that is where the fun begins as you will need to fly up in hard to reach areas and collect before your flight skill runs out and you fall to the ground, this will probably end up in as many deaths as hunting will.

Since using your collecting skill gives xp, it is completely worth the time that it takes away from hunting.  How much xp does collecting give? Its about 60 exp in the lower areas.  If you want to get some of the good quests though, you will have to level your collecting skill or else you will miss out on good rewards.