I feel that when doing quests the rate of collecting items as compared to defeating enemies is completely off. For example, I just defeated 5 Ettins and obtained only 1 Lamb Steak for a quest in Aquila, and only a few minutes before I was helping my friend with a different quest in Marleybone and even though we defeated 8 Radicals he only got 2 of the items he needed. There have been several other occasions like these and I wouldn't be surprised if other people have experienced the same thing. So how exactly does it work when trying to complete a collect *such and such item* quest? What is the collection to enemy ratio?
In my experience, it varies (read random). One thing that I have found is that, if there are more groups on the map, then going from group to group usually gets one item per group. After I get the item I need, I am on to the next group and, if there are more items needed when I run out of groups, I go back to the first group and repeat. This has worked very well when trying to collect Holy Water from the Holy Monquisition Ships in Monquista.