I think that if you're going to automate resource collection without player interaction, you should just do it. I think it would be silly going to the effort of cluttering the environment with resources just so you can click a button and have companions play the game for you.
I’ve watched several streamers playing DOS, BG3 and Dragon’s Dogma and there are definitely a wide variety of playstyles. Old school gamers in particular seem to find enjoyment in doing the looting themselves. In DD you can build/hire pawns that will never do any looting, but on the other end of the scale you can get ones that avoid combat totally and will run around doing all the looting for you. It’s really up to the player how they’d like to play the game. Personally, I’d rather avoid the chore of resource gathering – working out how best to use or spend the resources is more fun for me. I wouldn’t impose my preference on others though.
