The trouble with shards

[Uriahnool]

As someone trying to level up my crafting class, it is becoming increasingly frustrating to obtain the shards needed to craft. I can invest in all sorts of materials, only to begin crafting to see "Unable to craft. You do not have the required crystals."

Ok, no big deal. I'll pick some up from the markets.

But market prices for shards are constantly around 50g each. So if my craft requires 4 wind shards and 4 fire shards (goldsmith) I am investing 400 gil in shards alone for one item. combine that with the 150 gil for a mythril ingot and 250 gil for one siltstone whetstone - to make a simple pair of mythril earrings I am investing around 800 gil in materials.

Now if I was in it for the gil, I would just go mindlessly mine a bunch of wind shards for free, sell them for 50 gil each, and not worry about crafting or leveling up. But I also want to get to level 50 goldsmith sometime, which is impossible to do if I can't afford the crafting materials/shards. Even the crafting quests (which should be a free way to level up) now require me to find my own materials and don't provide them like 1.0 used to.

Unlike other low-level gathered items like copper ore that sell for 4-5 gil each, wind/fire shards have never come down in price. I am now forced to take extra time to invest in a gathering class to support my crafting class - except I am not gaining any exp by using the gathering class as shards are very low level items.

Seems like I am wasting a lot of time here.

[Mezolitik]

I am now forced to take extra time to invest in a gathering class to support my crafting class - except I am not gaining any exp by using the gathering class as shards are very low level items.

IIRC, you can double your output with a trait/skill at later levels. And, as one node can grant you 4-5 shards (20-25 per cycle), it's not the worst grind. You could also craft at the mining node to take the edge off it.

I do agree though, there's a great deal of time wasted farming shards. You seem to get masses of the things from crafting quests so, if you haven't already, maybe pick up a few other crafting classes. I know one of the alchemy quests gives >250 lightning shards.

[Lstkaws]

I have mined all my shards to this point. Doesn't seem to be too bad. 1/2 hour of mining usually gets me plenty of shard and about 15-18k worth of crystals to sell.

[Zezlar]

Honestly, shards/crystals should drop from monsters. I don't understand why they took away the drop from monsters.

I have mined all of mine since, because there's honestly no way in hell i'm paying 50g+ for a shard.

[Toranja]

There are also leves that offer quite a few shards on delivery. I don't think all crafts have one, but seek them out.

[Ryios]

Level a battle class to 50, bind il 46+ gear in dungeons like WP or CM. Convert to materia. You can make a million a day if you get good procs and get relic materia (for the relic quest), then pay your way to 50 in your craft.

[Crimson-Falcon]

i have miner for that purpose + money making class

if you get king yield II which its lv40 miner skill

you can get up to 3 shards for every mine + using 1 of the skills depends on what kind of shard you are farming

making you get 5 shards every mine ( 20 - 25 per node )

[Toranja]

Honestly, shards/crystals should drop from monsters. I don't understand why they took away the drop from monsters.

They do. Kill some sprites.

[Uriahnool]

Honestly, shards/crystals should drop from monsters. I don't understand why they took away the drop from monsters.

I have mined all of mine since, because there's honestly no way in hell i'm paying 50g+ for a shard.

I think the wind/earth/lightning/water elementals drop shards, but then again it's like 2 shards each which is just as time consuming and as negligible exp as mining them, if not more so because they don't re spawn right away.

Back in 1.0 when I ran out of shards I would just do a DOW/DOM class for a while and eventually i'd kill enough things to have more shards from all the mobs dropping. Now they don't do that so I can't rely on that method any longer. It is just frustrating that I have to invest time into getting these items while not getting any exp in return.

[SnickleWhiskers]

They do. Kill some sprites.

Don't tell the plebs something that could be useful they don't need that.