I think this firebrand change was badly done with no consideration of the balance or economic impact on average players. As this benefits players that are ahead, due to their access to better bones and better infrastructure.
Going from needing a tree and a good axe to needing a tree and a saw is pretty big considering making a saw of the same quality as an axe is much harder, really your axe quality should always beat your saw quality(unless buying a saw, even then saws are bought at a lower quality for similar prices.).
I'm not saying that it wasn't needed but it removed a pathway to making ash, which overall reduces game content and accessibility for a larger portion of players(benefiting the top) and adds more weight to the already buckling bone-gathering process that average players are already struggling with.
Rather than just complain I have provided a solution that would benefit everyone and add content/pathways to ash production :
https://www.havenandhearth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=74436I also spoke with Jorb (some time ago) and Loftar recently in an attempt to provide a solution to the access problem for finding better bones. I suggested that dungeons have a much higher potential for bones (scaling in diff). With ants going up to 200ql, bees 300ql, beavers 400ql and bats 600ql. This would buff the long term rewards of doing dungeons even to where we are in the mid-game now.