Radiant fire crystals... *sigh*

Another radiant post?! Yeah, because this issue makes me want to play less. I have a bunch of 5 star recipes, and a bunch of items to heat.
I counted 22 pieces of gear that I currently have waiting to be heated to level 10. Most of them are at level 7/8, or are 4* level 10. I did a quick estimate of how many radiants I need, and came up with about 4600. That's a LOT of Vana runs!! Over 100. When it gets to this point, it just makes the game less fun.
I really like this game, and have been playing it off and on since 2011. I've got over 1500 hours of play time in this game.
I have about 4000 shining crystals, but they don't do me much good. Maybe if there was a way to exchange shinings for radiants?
Devs; If you see this post, can you give us a good way to farm crystals that doesn't take the fun out of this game? Oh, and I don't feel like spending $150 to buy the radiants...
Anyway, I hope this post isn't to whiny... but I'm sure I'm not alone in this issue. Maybe a drop rate increase? 50% more would be really nice, and would still take a lot of play time.
Thanks!!

Thanks Bopp. You have also been around a long time! Glad to see you on here still!
Advice is appreciated. I'll keep this in mind if I happen to get new shields or armor. I typically forge high chance until cost gets high, plus the chance at a forge box is worth it to me at the low levels. Seems like about level 5 it gets pretty expensive, and I switch to medium chance.
I'm thankful that most of my gear was acquired before radiants... but there is always another weapon to be had...

Honestly, just do like 10 vana runs a day, then within 10 days you should have enough radiants i guess. I do get the struggle but even now for me i heat 1 weapon to lvl 10 once a day, sometimes 2 weapons if Rngoddess is kind to me

Dedubark; Yeah, that's not going to happen... lol, I have a full time job, and a family. Plus, vana gets old pretty quick. BUT, thanks for the reply! Last vana run got me 12 radiants.......

Yeah thats gonna be a problem.
However we can fix this. You need to quit your job and neglect your family. If you can do this you should even be able to do 30-40 vana runs a day.

Finally got a few radiants... so I hit forge on my level 7 voltedge. And failed the forge. 60 radiants gone, just like that. It's times like that that make me want to stop playing this little gem of a game. Devs.... please, please give us a way to find radiants without grinding to death, or playing levels that require a dozen sparks of life to get through.

@Yvan - unless it's like the first 1-3 lvl of an item, always go for the 100% option. The great radiant drought of years past is over so there's plenty of ways to farm it.... or you could buy some :o
From what i can remember D&N is your best bet for farming rads if you can complete it . Even if it's just a couple runs every other day you still get your fair share of rads - especially on elite.

Yep, Dreams and Nightmares has a high Radiant payout. See (old but good) data set here:
https://wiki.spiralknights.com/Lancer_Knightz_(Guild)/Mission_Rarities
Yvanblo, I hear you. A way to convert Shinings to Radiants would please many players, I think. The conversion rate could even be pretty extreme.
You've been around a while, so you probably know the tips below, but here are some tips for other people who might be reading.
1. Forge on Medium chances. Then forging to heat level 10 costs about 419 Radiants instead of 453. (See my analysis here.)
2. Spend your Radiants forging weapons, not armor or shields. Heat level massively affects weapon damage output, adds one health point to armor, slightly affects armor damage protection, and slightly affects shield damage protection. It doesn't affect armor or shield status resistance at all.
3. If you forge armor at all, then don't forge it beyond heat level 5, where it acquires its one health point. Don't forge shields at all.