Hipie, one can easily make 55K an hour on hunting alone, but a good smith can make more than 55K in an hour. I don't do metallurgy or blacksmithing on Teshia. I hunt. And my favorite hunting ground is dead center of the arena, and not on a very tough opponent. I usually net between 45 and 65K per hour in tria, unnamed weapons and armor. You can also make almost as much hunting rogues. I was training all weapons btw, not just 3, so it can be done. You just have to be efficient.
I don't know if there is any programming reasoning behind this, but there does seem to be a pattern in loot rate. Some times are better than others for looting, and obviously.. don't sit there and compete with other players for the mobs.
Even basic BS and Met skill though can give much higher, as well as much more predictable profits. I do BS on my alt. I don't have to worry about the stock never making it to 300q. Eventually, it will get there. There can be slumps in hunting, where you may only loot one out of ten times... I suppose the inevitability is one of the main differences, you are eventually guaranteed the profit from metallurgy.