If you people want to take 3 months to 7* a character live it up. But doing only refreshes is definitely not the fastest way. Do your 3 refreshes and build up extra crystals to buy from the shop. People act as if it has to be one or the other. Do both if you want the character the fastest. Or save all your crystals when a marquee drops. Buy them from the shops before they are farmable. I got greef and mando that way. I used my daily energy on gear. Those characters were done a week after hitting the shipments and I no longer have to deal with it. It all depends on your goals.