Deadliftonly

Currently, the best way to farm pure essence is Zulrah, followed perhaps by Twisted Banshees. Normal Banshees also drop essence, though only at a minuscule  rate. This is a problem, specifically for low level Ironmen and Classic players (or any DIY players, really). There is no reason that bulk pure essence should be locked behind a high-level boss or PvM mobs, when Runecrafting is an essential skill that should be utilized from a very low level. Pure Essence should be able to be gathered the way it was intended to be.

Make mining a viable method of collecting pure essence.

Drop rates of essence do not need to be nerfed, but when you are spending time focused solely on farming essence, the rates should at the very least compete with other methods. There are a few ways which this can be accomplished:

1. AFK - Mine noted essence at an accelerated rate.

2. Semi-AFK - A majority of essence mined will be noted, while a stray unnoted essence will occasionally appear in the player's inventory. This will force players to bank every so often. Essence is mined at an accelerated rate. The rate of noted essence received could be another Donator benefit (ie: non-Donators get 90% noted essence, Donators get 95% noted essence, etc).

3. Non-AFK - Place an NPC who notes essence a short distance from the essence rock. Essence is mined at an accelerated rate.

Mining should yield the player several thousand essence per hour to compete with PvM methods. The rates would scale with Mining and/or Runecrafting level. I personally believe that method 2 is the best solution.