I typically only saw wind crystals from missions.

Don't send the droid.... he almost never crits on a crew mission. should get them about 1 for every 35- 40 fire nodes with a companion that has at least 4000 affection.

At low affection levels, companions without +<insert mission skill here> crit almost never bring back purple grade items. As anyone who's leveled biochem can attest to. For non biochemists, tier 1 purple gear really isn't worth it. Frankly, I don't make purple gear on any character but my biochemists. Sticking with blues you upgrade periodicly is less of a hassle (especially when dealing with branching on equippables. +shield is a pretty useless boost on cunning gear) Edited February 29, 2012 by KorinHyvek

Use Mission Discoveries. Get a lvl 110 Treasure Hunting mission schematic from the Market, then run it. Provided the mission is not a total failure (which happens very rarely), you WILL get a few purples, usually 2 to 4. So far, that holds true for every mission skill I used.

 

This is incorrect. The wind crystal is a level 1 gem. The 115 treasure hunting mission discoveries return level 2 items. I have never seen a level 110 mission.

 

The two regular missions that I have managed to get wind crystals from are "Preying on the Meek" and "Sealed in Stupidity."

Sometimes I think all it takes is to find the right companion for the individual mission. Zenith has Treasure Hunting crit and he doesn't bring in the Corusca Gems or the Wind Crystals very often. Nadia brings in Wind Crystals almost consecutively now, I usually have her do "Sealed in Stupidity." Always brings back at least 3 Wind Crystals. She's terrible with companion gift missions for me and most other Treasure Hunting, but she seems to enjoy bringing back these purple crystals.

The purple, rare gems used for creating artifact level Artificing gear appear to only come from companions that have a +Crit in Treasure Hunting.

 

I can not prove this, but in maxing my Artificing skill, I NEVER got a artifact gem mat from any companion other than Kira and Vette. Not even once in uncountable missions on the way to 400. Kira seemed to get them on a rare occasion.

 

Also, since Sith Warriors get a +5 Crit and Jedi Knights only get a +1 Crit, it seems that Sith Warriors might have a significant advantage.

 

Again, this is only my personal experience, so it can't be taken as proof.

 

Qyzen just found Wind Crystal after about gem missions.

why are these so hard to get?! Im running the rich missions with vette who has +5 treasure crit and 10000 affection. I also have 450 treasure hunting. I also have all of the crit legacy boost. the numbers could not be in my favor any more but after constantly running the missions i have 407 fire nodes 117 esqusit yellow's and only 4 wind crystals. What the H*** is wrong. Edited March 10, 2014 by DarSlater

It's a purple item. Super-rare drop.

 

You just have to stick with it. Sometimes those purples are going to be hard to find.

 

It's an early on crafting stage. Why is it such a rare drop and how can you craft to advance when the item get be had??

It's an early on crafting stage. Why is it such a rare drop and how can you craft to advance when the item get be had??

It probably works differently now than it did six years ago when that person made that post.

It probably works differently now than it did six years ago when that person made that post.

 

Its still so rare i ran lots of rich yield missions and not a single drop and my friend pitied on me and donated 25 of them lol its better to just buy it from gtn in these circumstances.