Raid gear so frieking frustrating

Best course of affection includes tRRRey's and everyone's advice. Get in a serious guild and don't be afraid to place in the bottom half (seems more furnaces drop there). Save crystals up an only use them for you 50 and 100-energy refreshes of normal and Cantina energy respectively AND for when you see a piece you need in shipments. You can also do the crystal subscription to help out, 100 crystals for 21 days. It's the best deal and really helps if you're trying to still farm shards with refreshes AND gear up. I usually try to do one thing at a time.

Needing 50 makes me think you're trying to get too many heroes up at one time. It's not meant to be that fast. Focus on one or maybe two heroes at a time. Focus on either saving crystals for gear, or using them for refreshes if you're farming shards for a must-have hero.