More energy pr battle also mean that without refresh, we will have fewer battles pr day, and thus toons will recover more stamina between each battle = less incentive to have a broad roster as you can more heavily lean into fewer teams. Fewer battles pr day would also mean less time spent in conquest, but they stated that with the increased time commitment, they will reduce time elsewhere (and thank you for that), but to me all this indicates that CG expect players to have to spend crystals with the changes.
Tinfoil hat warning, but I can only see the increased energy cost as a crystal grab. Seems CG saw too many players not spending crystals/not spending enough crystals on refresh and decided to make refresh mandatory. I mean, if it was truly a matter of stretching out conquest, wouldn't lower stamina regen/higher stamina cost be more natural to look at? Then you would need to use more teams and you would need to buy more consumables to rush conquest....