I just wanted to mention a couple of things. I am normally pay ever so often for the upgrades but after this experience with having previous purchases wiped they have lost my support. I'll play, but not at what I would have. It's just bad coding to have both saying they do not add shards/blueprints and then in the next line wipe them by "topping" them up. Also that it matters what order you buy your shards to get them.
And I did the quick math for upgrading a character. To get them from not having them to seven star (without the equipment) it would be roughly $300 or $640 if done faster. The equipment bundles are more expensive. So with the equipment it is over $1000.
(Using Jolee Bindo and taking into account using the crystal bundle that gives 15,710 crystals for $140, buying the 16 shard crystal pack when it comes up for 1280 crystals ($300) over time or if you buy the character Journey Guide Mega Pack for 2450 crytsals with an average of 12 shards per pack ($642) quicker)