I don't remember seeing a single essencetapping plant or ore when I played on EU. Except in the housing areas. You really aren't going to want to enchant any old gear once the patch hits. You will get free gear from the initial campaign quests that will be better than the gear you have right now. The -new- gear doesn't break on fail. The new gear can only be enchanted to +15. (Then you purify and enchant to +15 and then purify one last time and then +15.) That's the max level. If you fail a