So here I am in Central Shroud, gathering ice shards to resume leveling my Armorsmith. Gaining all of 10 exp per unit for my lvl 26 Botanist. Getting whispers from RMTs trying to sell me shards. Watching a bot teleport around in the floor farming shards by the 1000s....

So aside from adding a redundant step into crafting and being the perfect cash cow for RMTs/Botters I find my self asking: is there any point to this? It doesn't even add much to the timesink effect.

If there a valid reason why shards/crystals exist I'd love to hear it, no sarcasm intended. Otherwise maybe its time for Square to begin talks of dismantling it as a waste of time too easily exploited.