Before people jump in saying to do Events (I know this much)...
I have far more Legendary Weapons than I do Armor, yet I currently have 17 Energies, and only 2 Shards. Obviously these numbers imply that I need the Shards more than the Energies. For starters, it would be nice if we could exchange these items like we can with the DB upgrade mats (If anyone knows something about trading mats that I don't, I would love to know).
My main question is as follows. Are certain events(or locations) more likely to yield one type of Ascendant mat than the other? My usual farming routes for events are The Steppes on Earth and Anchor of Light on the Moon. This means that most of my Events I get are Extraction Crews, Warsat, and Walkers with the occasional Kill Target.
I have the app for Event timers but I don't like to do Vex Sacrifices solo because it is too hard to get Gold while soloing, and more often than not, it seems, the Kill Target Events the targets have shields that go up to quickly for trying to solo before they reach their destination. The rare Kill Target I get on the Moon is fortunately always a Servitor which has no shield and is therefore somewhat easily solo'd.
Tips? Advice? Thanks.
EDIT: Thanks for all of the replies, guys, but most people are missing the main point of my post, which is if anyone knows whether certain events or location of events can have any effect on what type of mat you get.
EDIT 2: Ok, seriously... my game hates me... I have farmed more events and done missions that reward Ascendant mats... 11 more Energies, not a single Shard... They really should offer a way for people to exchange between the two. Also, I have not done VoG as I have not had the time yet to find a group and do it. But when I do I better not get all Energies >.>
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Oh wow. Been a while for me. Shard/energy is 50/50, there's no way to farm one or the other. Here's what I recommend, and do these in the order you wish: Public Events: 3/character/day. You won't always get a material but most times you will. My favorites are the divide on earth and the ember caves on venus. Usually a fallen walker. Easy to do and quick. Use destinypublicevents.com and hunt the "green" events. Do this if you don't have time to run a VoG run. Vault of Glass: The 'normal' mode is sufficient to get piles of mats. Do a fresh run through Atheon 3x/week. Once per character. It'll usually yield 10-15ish materials/run plus the excess armor and weapons can be dismantled for materials. Takes a bit longer than public events but yields far more materials/hour than anything else. This is, by far, the fastest way to get a lot of materials. You can realistically get about 40 materials/week running normal mode VoG alone provided you do it 3x/week. Nightfall: Sort of a good way. You'll either get 9-12 materials, coins, a crappy weapon you don't need, or once in a great while you'll get something awesome. If all else fails go buy vanguard gloves and boots then break them down for materials. The first slog to get your first set of armor maxed out takes FOREVER. Once you get it tho....you'll end up with more materials than you'll EVER possibly use.