I don't know what you're doing, but I can make it to any blacksmith in < 5 minutes from any bonfire. And considering I only need them for acension, since I carry the smithing boxes, the trips are even less frequent. In fact, I only really go to them otherwise when I want to buy shards.
Besides, I think the hardest embers to find, looking back on it, were probably the enchanted one and the occult one. Both of which are easily found using a guide or looking it up online somewhere. By contrast, NOTHING could cut my farming time down for pure bladestone and cloudstone chunks. So again, I'll take the new system any day.
Makes more sense now. Thanks!