Shards was always one per, and orbs was also, only thing is you could send out many orbs at the same time up until a few patches ago, when they changed it to one orb out at a time, the community informed them how difficult sustain was going to be with this change and they made it so any amount of players could use the same synergy.
So be careful what you wish for, they could just as likely change orbs to one per just like shards always was in the name of standardization.
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Tiidehunter Nord StamDK EP PvP Main
Legion Commander Tresdin Stamplar DC PvE Main
Sephirith Altmer MagPlar EP Gondar the Bounty Hunter Khajiit StamBlade DC
The Dirge Redguard StamNecro EP Disruptor Stormcrafter Nord StamSorc AD
Lone Druid Bosmer Stam Warden EP Necro-Phos Argonian MagBlade AD
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Played since beta, and then on console at release, until the game became unplayable on console.