Can we just remove shards from the game?

[Nicobo]

...Would crafting somehow be unbalanced without them?...

For example crafting a minon require 100shards which is the actual cost (the mat too cheap) that balancing its value.
I think shards balance the value of crafting. If a item is too cheap, no one want to craft as it doesn't worth for the shards.
Without shards, everybody may just craft 3000 useless item without any plan? ^^;
Therefore I think shards do balance the crafting system.