Can we just remove shards from the game?

[ruinedmirage]

Odd has a good point. The purpose is to play the game to have fun. Some people may not like gathering at all, and nobody likes paying money, especially for something as trivial as shards, and doubly especially not to bots. Yet crafting is literally gated behind obtaining something that may not appeal to everyone. The other option is to find elemental sprites and hope for drops or travel areas looking for high payout leves, but that's an even slower gathering process.....

I think if people had an option that makes gathering shards either faster or more fun (a daunting request indeed), it would reignite crafting/gathering AND cut into botting profits. Pray to the 12 for shards, make crystals and clusters breakable again, find some while fishing, carbonize some element in the open world while on a combat class (like at a lake or at a tree), make a higher yield for gathering skill, maybe be able to use a company's workshop (fen-yll, sunsilk, or the blacksmith one) for a gil fee for an hour or two with no shard cost..... be creative.