Gathering shards takes to long.

[Shori]

I don't think I could agree more with this. Shard's existence wastes hours of my time every week in empty, boring grind and the game doesn't gain anything from having them, not that I can tell. I would love to see them cut altogether.

To immerse in the world / story... :P
Crystals, and the elements, are a big part of final fantasy so without them its just yet another MMO