Need shards? Gather? Market? Give up?

Materials and consumables always take a dive in supply on patch weeks because people who would normally be farming are instead doing other things. At the same time, the demand for those materials may be at an all time high because of the new uses for said materials. The prices will return to the status quo within a few weeks just as they always do.

Saw similar issues with gold ore and darksteel ore, yesterday gold ore was selling for 110k per stack while darksteel ore was selling for about 70k per stack. today the prices are almost back to normal. If prices increase too high players who don't ordinarily farm them will start farming them to jump on the "gil bandwagon" as supply increases the prices will return back to normal from people undercutting the hell out of each other.

If you have 2 gathering retainers you can send them each out to get different types of shards. Then, on a gatherer of your own, go to a mid-level node of another kind that you have a blessing for and can gather crystals. If your gathering is high enough, you'll get one node that will drop double then add in the blessing every once and a while. Wheel through only 3 of the nodes (the first one resets after you hit the third) making sure to hit the double-drop node on each turn and you'll get through several hundred shards in an hour.

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Originally Posted by Worm

There's level 45 or 50 nodes for almost every shard (sans Lightning it seems) so you can kill two birds with one stone.

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Check out the Botanist nodes just south of Forgotten Springs in Southern Thanalan. Can get lightning shards there.

Ok, guess i will wait and check out the prices in the next few days/weeks.

Another option is to create alts and advance them far enough to unlock crafts and visit other cities. Doing the unlock along with the level 1, 5, and 10 quests will net you a decent chunk of shards if you do it for every craft. You'd just need to utilize an FC chest or have a friend act as an intermediate to get the shards onto your main character.

Might not be enjoyable for everyone but it's an option nonetheless.

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Originally Posted by Levi

I see. I Didn't consider maps. Will check it out.

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Don't. Since patch, maps range from 20K to 50k per.

Why wouldn't you just get the map on your own? Does buying them skirt the 18 hour lockout?

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Originally Posted by Worm

Why wouldn't you just get the map on your own? Does buying them skirt the 18 hour lockout?

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18 hours is just for obtaining a map from a node. Not from using one.

The bots were fairly well dealt with a while back.. Which is why you no longer see 10-15k stacks of shards for sell (a sure sign of a bot) The shards up these days (on my server at least) are in such small quantities I'm 99% sure they are all player harvested.

Problem is the rate even 10 gatherers can harvest shards vs the rate a single crafter can use them up is insanity.


Also some people suggesting using your retainers.

Retainers (even if you have 4) don't bring enough shards back in a 12 hour day to last 30 minutes. Hell a stack of electrum ingots alone is 500 shards.


And the ward ability is near worthless. Not home now but its what 10 extra shards for 400 GP? Which takes 4 minutes to gain?