OK, after doing some research, I now see that apparently this mess of a system first appeared in 5E, and this part the game has been in this state for ~6 years, including the loss of Essence risk. Enchanting went from a harmless downtime activity to a total mess in 5E. 6E is actually just another sloppy copy pasta of 5E text.
Sorry, as you can tell, I never played 5E, so this is a stunner to me. Enchanting never caused drain prior to that, and it's pointless rule to have it happen with Enchanting in general. The use of the loss of Essence as a possible risk is beyond wildly inappropriate considering what Essence represents. It also fundamentally alters how magic works for enchanting and to no good end. This is *not* how you constrain power creep in any game.
Again, I apologize for being late to something that may already have been talked about, but lord have mercy. It's totally abusive to players for the crime of a single bad die roll. It's archaic as game design goes, and clearly yeeted in here as an afterthought, as though all was fine with it, tone deaf to the shift in gaming philosophy happening in the world right now. This game has no heart left in it, no love in it's pages, and no soul at this point.
I think I am probably done trying to offer any thoughts or advice on this forum. SR needs an extraction from Catalyst. On rethinking, please do NOT try to justify the enchanting mess to me. I probably won't be here to answer, which is for the best. There's enough heat going around without me blowing another gasket.
Thanks for the conversations. I appreciate even the opinions I don't share.
I'll see myself out.