My advice when you can afford it is to buy the gathering upgrade manual, unless you enjoy standing around picking herbs or digging up ore while monsters chew on your head. (Despite what the text on the Magpie says, there is a single manual that gives both mining and herbalism, if, like me, you have both. Well, it gives whichever you have, and if you later acquire the other, your helper gets it as well. Like for me, where I had just mining (from Weaponsmithing) when I bought the manual, and when I picked up alchemy, my magpie was immediately able to gather herbs.)
'Course, when I bought the magpie, the fairy wasn't available, but my aesthetic preferences would have said "magpie" anyway.
Now f2p 60 Xadaganian summy with 60/60/60 tailor/weaponsmith/alchemist, bleah gear, 555/555 runes
Now p2p 28 Xadaganian avenger with 20 weaponsmith
I'm on an extended break from Allods at the moment, but I'm lurking here to keep up with what's happening. From the looks of things in 5.0.02, I'm better off where I am.