What do you consider a useable amount of granite? 100 units in ten minutes? 1000? The granite supply has been the way its been for quite a while, and while I'll grant the recent castle additions have spiked granite demand, cranking up the supply to 11 isn't something to be done lightly without consideration. As far as the tedium of resource gathering - this is resource gathering we are talking about, not exactly the most riveting gameplay to begin with. The resource gathering actions in the EC have certainly taken the carpal tunnel edge out of the process, but I see your point.To be able to reliably mine useable amounts of granite without an inordinate amount of carpal tunnel inducing tedium. Not everything needs to be a massive time sink. The granite to time ratio needs to be balanced enough that its not just going to be script bots dominating the market.
If you look at the cost in materials for the most-crafted stone objects, they tend to require a fair amount of granite. The addition of the castle tiles has sapped many shards of their supply. Sapping people's will by continuing the grind is ultimately self-defeating.
That's not a good thing.
In the 4 granite in 50 use example, previously there could be a chance of getting 0 granite in 50 uses. Now that ore isn't being extracted that is no longer a possibility.