Guild Wars 2

So I guess it’s best to start by saying that I effectively missed Living World in it’s entirety. I only recently discovered that the Spinal Blades series of back pieces are a thing, and I excitedly began my quest to farm 925 Blade Shards. I spent some time over at the jumping puzzle at Gendarran Fields, but found myself quickly discouraged. While I wouldn’t call it an optimal farming strategy, I seem to be lucky if I manage to get 5 shards in an hour (with roughly 100% MF), and completing the puzzle gave me a whopping 2 more. Is there a better location to farm Aetherblades and get shards? I’ve heard both Fractals and Twilight Arbor mentioned, but I’m not much of a dungeoner, and I’d prefer to avoid those if possible, especially if the drop rate is not notably better.

Thanks!

I think they drop in EoTM too from the center mobs. The drop rate is low though.

Promotion with sprockets?
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blade_Shard

Rouven.7409:

Promotion with sprockets?
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blade_Shard

This had caught my eye, but as far as I can tell, the only ways to obtain Watchwork Sprockets are tied to Living World events. Am I mistaken?

If you did the LS, there will be a node in your home instance(yields 5~8 per day along with 0~2 blade shards).

Since you didn’t, it will cost you 100~125g on TP if you go that route.(alternatively, find a friend done LS and mine at his home instance)

The queens playground is coming back … might be able to get some sprockets there.
But otherwise LastShot is correct of course.
Sorry, haven’t checked any TP prices to see what’s “reasonable”.

I did the Aetherblade (3rd) fractal and during the cannon aoe phase before the last boss, one of the mobs dropped me a blade shard. I was amused.

I also missed the attack on LA and have been wondering if there will be another chance to get blade shards for the tempered spinal blades.

I would love some more ways of aquiring blade shards because atm i am just dumping TA and AC daily run gold into sprockets and i have gotten exotic after about 3-4 days but i’m dreading ascended :/

The Crown Pavillion is returning, so there’s potential for them to drop again if the Watchknights are still there for us to farm.

aetherblades in the TA Aether path should drop it (not certain since I’ve not done that dungeon much), also any aethers in fractals will have a chance to drop them, think I’ve collected another 100 by now from those. I’ve got about 700 of the things now, spent a lot on the wings.

Aetherblades anywhere in the game (the JP in Gendarran Fields, fractals, TA Aether path, and EOTM) still drop them. Also, that one node in your home instance drops them.

Your most efficient way to build Blade Shards is definitely the Mystic Forge Recipe. All you need is 1 Blade Shard to start, but you need a LOT of sprockets, but since they’re tradable they’re also much easier to get your hands on.

1 Blade Shard + 50 Sprockets + 1 Tier 1 Dust + 1 Tier 2 Dust = 10-15 Blade Shards. Rinse and Repeat. This is going to be a significantly better drop rate than getting them off Aetherblades.

Alternatively, if you have a few characters you use much or are willing to let sit for a while, the Aetherblade JP in southwest(ish) Gendarren Fields drops 2 Shards a day per character that opens it. (So far for me anyway)

There are several options, run the JP with each toon, pay a mesmer to port them all up, get lucky and find a mesmer willing to do it for free.

It will require a fair amount of patience, more so the fewer toons you leave up there, but its free, consistent, and doesn’t hang on the oh so generous RNG of drops or the mystic toilet.

aetherblades drop blade shards. (time to start farming that horrible TA path? :P )
fotm have the option.
Go to a friends instance daily. (will take you a long time to gather shards this way though.)

ScribeTheMad.7614:

Alternatively, if you have a few characters you use much or are willing to let sit for a while, the Aetherblade JP in southwest(ish) Gendarren Fields drops 2 Shards a day per character that opens it. (So far for me anyway)

So after trying some methods suggested, I’ve found this one to be the most efficient. It’s not really fast, but it’s resulted in the most progress, particularly with two points previously unmentioned. First, with Megaservers, it is possible to open the JP chest more than once per day per character. Second, while 2 shards are (as far as I can tell) guaranteed to drop, there is also a rare drop that provides 15 shards instead. We’ll see what the Festival brings to the table for people in my shoes, but that aside, this is probably going to be my best bet. Thanks again!

OP, best way to get sprockets is if you or a friend that you have has the Sprocket generator unlocked in your home instance.
You can enter a friend’s instance and just farm this once a day.

Once you have the sprockets then you can promote them to Blade shards.

Zaxares.5419:

The Crown Pavillion is returning, so there’s potential for them to drop again if the Watchknights are still there for us to farm.

The Crown Pavilion is back… anyone know yet if blade shards are farmable again?

You can exchange 400 festival tokens for a gift of sprocket at Labyrinthine Cliff

No sprockets are dropping, though.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Your most efficient way to build Blade Shards is definitely the Mystic Forge Recipe. All you need is 1 Blade Shard to start, but you need a LOT of sprockets, but since they’re tradable they’re also much easier to get your hands on.

1 Blade Shard + 50 Sprockets + 1 Tier 1 Dust + 1 Tier 2 Dust = 10-15 Blade Shards. Rinse and Repeat. This is going to be a significantly better drop rate than getting them off Aetherblades.

By sprockets, do you mean Watchwork Sprockets which can be bought from the TP? I just got back from a year and a half long break and really want this backpiece. I have more than enough gold to buy 50 for the recipe and collect 975 total shards total. Would it work this way? I’m also able to buy a node and farm it to get the first initial blade. Any other efficient ways to do this?

Here is another thought.

If you have not already bought this item, keep an eye out in the Gem Store for a possible re-release of the Watchwork Mining Pick.

This item was available in the Gem Store from January 28 to February 24, 2014 & from June 28 to July 3, 2014. This and only this specific Pick includes approximately 20% chance to drop Watchwork Sprockets from any node. You could then try harvesting your way to your goal using the Mystic Forge Recipe method mentioned by others above.