Getting to top in arena is critical in this game. Otherwise you will suffer from everything. You not able to afford to refresh 2times on regular and 1 time in cantina. Unless you spend money.
Benefits from those refresh I get more cantina credits, credits, xp , training droids, more shards, mats from farming from Hard/Normal Node.
You're delusional. Arena is not critical for anything. I wouldn't even have to play Arena and I could still get along. I just would not have my 7* Ventress. All that extra stuff you gain is only necessary if you are trying to level quickly. I still get 2 refreshes of L/D battles a day. I don't refresh Cantina because it is too expensive and don't need to. All those stars and XP are useless if I don't make the credits to apply them. Therefore I must level more slowly or else pay $$.
I'll say it again. Slow leveling is the solution to the credit crunch and f2p.
You need to play aggressive in this game. You can't refresh once in cantina because you can't afford the Crystals. I'm sure you have many toons but it doesn't count if they are not 7*. I'm not a fully f2p (spent $20 so far since play from dec 1).
Go ahead and play aggressively. Eventually though, you will hit a wall, a limit of aggression. This game is about making choices and setting priorities. You cannot go full throttle with no limitations unless you are a whale. If you find a comfortable pace of advancement that equals your earning ability, you can maintain a balanced and fully leveled team and still compete. The problem is that everybody has high expectations of smashing heads and they believe there should be no limitations on achieving that.
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Go ahead and play aggressively. Eventually though, you will hit a wall, a limit of aggression. This game is about making choices and setting priorities. You cannot go full throttle with no limitations unless you are a whale. If you find a comfortable pace of advancement that equals your earning ability, you can maintain a balanced and fully leveled team and still compete. The problem is that everybody has high expectations of smashing heads and they believe there should be no limitations on achieving that.