FFXIV Dude Where's My Fire Crystal!?

One of the biggest problems I've had in the Open Beta so far is the vast limits that the game imposes on growth. Starting out in Ul'dah, I have been unable to locate a mob or activity that drops or provides Fire Crystals -- which are required for even the most basic crafting recipes for Blacksmithing and Goldsmithing. How in the world am I supposed to make nuggets to turn into ingots if the only fire I can get my hands on are shards?

It seems like the only progression you'll get right off the bat is to use the guildleves to help you level your skill, but once those are done you have to grind -- just like all of the combat or caster jobs out there. Maybe I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain about it, but I can only see this problem compounding with retail. Allowing players to start their careers as crafters is great, but you have to give them a path to progression. Should leveling when you start out be solely contingent upon leves which can't be repeated for an additional 48 hours?

Case in point, while others told me that they were able to get wind shards by mining outside of Ul'dah, I was unable to find a single one in eight skill levels. It wasn't until I road the ferry to Limsa and mined in their areas that I began getting them in my loot. Any why did I need to get my hands on wind shards? Cooking! I found a simple recipe that would finally allow me to gain skill off my crayfish -- allowing me to do something other than vendor my fish. 1 crayfish + 1 wind shard = River Sand. As long as you can get your hands on the wind shards, this makes leveling up cooking much easier to grind.

It just seems like too many things are interdependant on one another. To cook, I can't just kill things that drop meat or fish. I have to find creatures or gathering activities that provide the right kinds of shards or worse.. crystals, which are much more rare. This may depend on the area you start out in, it's quite possible. It's just a little annoying that I can get fire and earth shards by fishing, yet not air. Is this based on weather? Time of day? Did I just not fish or mine at the correct time or the right day of the game week? My only option for prey was moles, marmots, and coblyns. None of these dropped the shards I needed.

The obvious answer then seems to be that I should head to the market ward. With no search feature, you've got to check each player and retainer manually across around 10 different areas. A smart shopper would try to compare prices. Yuck! Good luck! This is something that needs to change. I don't mind being able to trade my goods for others that may be harder for me to obtain. Maybe Botany is the way to go? If I don't want to do that, I should be able to barter the items that I can gather. Help me do that with a viable search or auction system.