One thing I learned during my few years of counting cards is that short runs are good if you know that going short is the optimal option. With this game, you do not have this knowledge. In counting cards, you had the "count".
So, if you are doing a short run and you get a HOF and stop, you are missing out on the potential "big" run that you could have if you kept going. For this, I employ a 3 strike rule for no-loots and fragments.
If you are doing a long run, you are missing out on the BIG make up HOF or potential for loot to get good.
In the grand scheme of things, neither of the observations above make logical sense. We lack the MU on hunting that makes it a sustainable activity but we still continue because it is the most enjoyable one. By the time we find hunting MU or know that it exists, the ubers are already draining it OR it quickly evaporates due to careless undercutting on auction... afterall the market value makes this easy since the market value of items are not what they sell at but what they sell at minus auction fees... which lends itself to such behavior.
I find it is always better to hunt or mine with multiple goals. If you are chasing swirls, you will be heavily disappointed. Chase something that is obtainable.... mission rewards, farming materials (ore, enm, oils, etc), etc and reap the rewards that follow. You might not get swirls, but if you are farming say hides and you would be otherwise paying 125% for them, then chances are.. you might end up paying less by farming them and could be free altogether. Something to think about........ need metal residue? Farm materials for the high-yielding residue blueprint and click it. You might pay 115% for the residue in effect... or you might get it for free. I'd take my chances.
I learned I would get most frustrated and upset when I did activities without a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely). If you are chasing globals and HOFs, well... this is not necessarily attainable or timely. Doing Aakas runs during my LA quest, my main goal was missions, secondary was arkoins, tertiary was getting armor, items, and the like. If I had been focusing solely on arkoins, I would have raged and thrown all my stuff out of the window. If you don't know what I mean, then have a read at
this thread.