And I'd also like to know why there are so few Essence Drops in the early game. If it is scarcity of it is simply to encourage players to be more careful with resourcing I think it went a bit overboard...?
Of course you can still proceed without them, but it feels a bit less fun not being able to replenish it even slightly once you run out of it and don't have access to statuettes that can recover you. Instead of the original 4-5 essence drops in total, I'd say just adding 3-4 more would be enough for early game