28 is for normal raid, especially in a pickup group. (although even a 27 can be carried through HM Raid - but lets face it, who's going to do that in a pickup group its like saying to a random you die, we try 5 man everything and you get the best loot), the damage difference between a 29 and 30 is huge, let alone a 28 and 30. If you haven't already, Normal raid is better suited for 25-28s, and Hard Mode for 29+. If you have already done Normal mode, you really want to be using shards to get to 29.

Amazingly I NEVER get shards. Although the amount of energy I get is outstanding.

Raid is the best source of shards, try to do a normal raid atleast once per week, so far you have only done it twice out of I believe 13 weeks. But there are also other methods of obtaining them: Do daily on Level 28 every day gives you 2 ascendant material (shards or energies). Also I assume your VG faction or other chosen faction should be at the stage where you can buy armor using 65 marks, buy then discard to get shards. You can also get them via public events (common) nightfall (not what you want but common), strikes/crucible (rare), random chests (very rare), Also rank up your other characters to Raid level and you should get three attempts every week instead of only one.