the elemental skills aren't really important. King's Yield II fulfils the same role but @ 500 GP instead of 400. However the HQ differential is pointless because at 600 GP (the highest GP threshold that's reasonable to hit), you can't do anything with the extra 100 GP on cluster nodes (if you need more accuracy you can use the 100 GP skill, and you can't king's yield I + elemental ward until 800 GP which you literally cannot reach). And if you're going after clusters or crystals, you're better off just going for ephemeral nodes (level 60 thing).

and shards aren't worth the time b/c people who either bot or have way too much time on their hands gather them by the thousands and sell them for like 48-50 gil per which is abysmally not worth anyone's time except really new players.