Older Conquest Shards

"JerryHello;d-264271" wrote:
... or not had strong enough rosters at the time to efficiently clear hard mode during the events for Malgus and the Fury class interceptor...

Then they probably wont have much access to R9 materials anyway ... and then Leviathan is not attainable anyway.

"JerryHello;d-264271" wrote:
... It just seems rather extreme to require the 2 most recent conquest units ...

2 conquest units ... 4 marquee units ... 2,500 kyrotechs ... Potato, potato, potato. Everything in the game is a grind. Also: JMK is a GL, but he is more or less a B tier toon without CAT, who is farmable only from the monthly event. Same goes for LV and Maul although not as obviously as with JMK/CAT. So for the pinnacle of fleet battles to require 2 conquest units, is probably quite okay.

"JerryHello;d-264271" wrote:
... but wasn't able to play much during the 1st two Fury interceptor conquests ...

Well ... "weren't able" means that you didn't prioritize the game as much as the people who actually went and achieved red crate for 3 straight conquests. Isn't it okay, that they are given an advantage for actually putting in the effort over the course of 3 months and 3 two-week events ?

"JerryHello;d-264271" wrote:
... but it seems like a lot for people who will need to farm both units.

Well ... they can do both unit farms simultaneously ... and they can pay to refresh the nodes to make the farm quicker. Just like with everything else in the game.

To sum it up: No. Currently there is no need for a short cut for people who missed out so far. They can keep grinding and in time get their rosters up to a level, where they can clear hard conquest and get the red crate. Historically, CG has introduced ways to easier get hold of stuff as the game has progressed further - that'll probably happen again later. Perhaps when conquest is no longer the primary way to get endgame units (or requirements for endgame units).