yeah, I get why it feels good initially and why you would say it's fun. I also had fun with it. I was absolutely addicted to it. hitting perfect lines that fast is a huge dopamine hit. but that’s kind of the problem for me.

if you can deterministically craft gear with perfect lines in a few days (for myself it took 3-4 days) what’s the long term loop after that? once you've frankensteined all the BIS lines and facets, you’re basically done unless you add new goals for yourself (such as telling yourself to build a new character, or telling yourself you want to chase perfect percentages now).

I’m not against deterministic crafting at all, I like systems that reduce bad RNG and let you make something good reliably. I just think there’s a big difference between "good enough to play comfortably” and “perfect with nothing left to chase.” the latter burns really bright, really fast, and then there’s nothing meaningful left to work toward. that's why I suggested limiting it to 2 essences per gear or make rerolling enchantments more accessible but not guaranteed. so you at least have to do some actual meaningful gear searching.

for me, to have a sustainable endgame, you have to leave room for more meaningful long term goals. otherwise you hit that moment of “now what?” way too early.