It is good that we have the Speaker and Vanguard Armoury performing swaps of elements etc, but I think someone forgot to think out the whole set of possibilities, because one is lacking, especially now that HoW has dropped. Ascendant Shards and Energy are pretty much non-existent now since HoW dropped. We used to be able to get them by doing Public Events and a few other ways. I haven't seen either one in any event now. It's like they no longer exist. Public events are dropping stuff like iron and spinmetal etc - nobody needs any of that since it's so freaking easy to get any of the base elements from the planets. I alone have 1600 Helium coils in inventory with nowhere to use them and no way to remove them, not to mention all the other element materials :p Anyway, with the Speaker, we can trade Ascendant Energy for Shards and Shards for Energy and one or the other for Motes of Light or Glimmer, but there is no way to actually just buy Energy or Shards themselves? You still need them for any weapons or armour that was received prior to HoW, and even for some being received in HoW. [b]Here's an idea that will fix 2 problems at once.[/b] Bring back the element trades that we had when the game first dropped ([i]with a slight change[/i])!! I don't know why it was changed - it was never a problem getting the expansion materials needed from the planets. Initially you were allowed to trade your expansion elements (iron etc) for Vanguard Marks. That was later changed so you actually SPENT Vanguard Marks to buy the materials ([i]which was useless since everyone had tons of the stuff[/i]). [b]Let's go back to the way it was[/b] - trade materials for Vanguard Marks, and add the ability to also trade the Vanguard Marks for Ascendant Energy and Shards. This way it provides a way to get those required Ascendant Elements, and you have to weigh the options for keeping the Marks or spending your Marks on either new weapons, or the items needed to upgrade the weapons you already have. [b]Win win, and people can clear their vaults of all that unnecessary clutter[/b] Thanks. JMO