No, every 'section' reward had more than just shards in the pool of drops. The only thing that strictly gave shards/energy was the chests that weren't exotic. I remember when CE dropped and I soloed the shadow maze for kicks and giggle whilst not knowing what to do until I looked up some stealth videos and the rock you could jump on. Then I did the solo sword over the bridge thing (among a whole slew of other cheeses that got patched) and got both Aybss Defiant and Oversoul Edict before ever meeting Crota and before Hard raid was out.