Thank you!
I had picked up on the shards sticking around after equipment changes - it's the reason I have the first ten pieces of equipment at/ approaching level six, even though I don't typically use half of them once I'm anywhere near my zone cap/ in the struggle.
I'm getting them faster than that, although I'm not sure what is boosting the speed. I guess it doesn't really matter since whatever it is I'm unlikely to be able to micro manage it.