Damn, wish I could just start the game with every class at level 50; that would keep me interested real long... If you want something done quickly, you either invest a buttload of time, or you pay someone else to do a portion of the work (in this case, gathering shards). This has been pretty standard not just in MMOs, but that crazy thing called real life.
I'm not refuting what the OP is saying, but it sounds more like some crafting recipes use too many shards, as opposed to the rate of gathering being an issue (although they kind of go hand in hand).
Edit: In light of BlackCat75's post, it seems far more evident that crafting and it's progression is far more broken then the rate/amount you get from each node. If every crafting job is going to use base shards for 90% of their recipes, it is going to keep market price high, and the Crystal/Clusters you gather as you level BTN or MIN becomes redundant.
