Adaptive F2P Guide 2.0

boys i need some advice, should i use my regular energy on hard nodes to farm something like JC for fleet arena, or should i start hoarding it for a level jump from 27 to say 40 or so? (phoenix squad in the making. i am now level 13, and about to get hera.. i have been unlucky on shards..)

thanks in advance!

also a pointer as to when to join a shard would be awesome! (a forum post monitoring new shards or something?)