Artifacts you don’t pick from a Crystal Chest can never be found again, because they have already been created. This can be frusttrating if for example you really want that particular artifact, spend lots of transmutation scrolls, only to end up with a random Ring +0. Just because it might have appeared in a Crystal Chest at a previous level.

Just to clarify, since you never get to know what artifact it was, you couldn’t make a rational decision when picking a chest.

So here’s my suggestion:

• When opening a crystal chest, any artifact in other chest will automatically go back into the pool. It will still not generate elsewhere, except giving you a chance to get it later with Transmutation (or RoW).

• When Transmuting an artifact, it’s effectively removed entirely from the game. How about put it back into circulation? This however have other side effects, as you can effectively get same artifact again after 2+ transmutation, but this is also in line with other transmutations, such as rings and wands.

I don’t think this breaks gameplay in anyway.

• You never knew what artifact it was from the start anyway. (ie. Crystal Chest choice).
• A previous artifact from a transmutation is generally better than a random Ring +0.
• This is in line with transmutation in general, always giving you back same type.