Maybe it always worked this way, and I didn't notice. But I was noticing in the most recent session that rocks don't restore unless they are mined to completion. I think this is a flawed approach.
The problem with the way the rocks work is that the last swing at the rock often yields only one or two pieces of ore. If one were being strictly utilitarian about it, it makes more sense to skip that last swing and move onto another rock. This is my guess about why people have started to leave parts of rocks behind... maybe there's something else going on.
I don't really like the way the rocks work and wonder if there's another way to approach them:
1. I don't like that little bit that's left over at the end.
2. I don't like that rocks can be entirely wiped out of an area by other players.
3. And somehow, I don't quite like the aesthetic of rocks spontaneously appearing.
(I guess I am in a cantankerous mood, with all those "don't likes"... please soften it in your head.)
I'm wondering if there's a way to make the whole thing more akin to the way trees work. Maybe I can take out only so much from a spot each day. Maybe the fact that I took something has nothing to do with whether you can take something. And I wish I could think of a lifecycle for the rocks, but I can't at the moment, so yeah, maybe they spontaneously appear as a whole out of thin air. But I'm wondering if there's a way that they would have to be seeded with a crystal and grown or something.