Leveling Without Purchase?

The thread is about F2P, advancing without paying money.

"farming" refers to playing or simming the same battle over and over to collect shards. if i'm farming the slave i, i'll run that battle over and over until that ship reaches 7 stars. the "best ship" is not objective. you can decide what would be best for you based on what would work with your existing ships' synergies (like if you have a couple other good galactic republic ships, another galactic republic ship would be a good addition to your fleet), ships that seem powerful/useful to you (look at their abilities, what other players are using, google if you're between a few), you can make posts with your specific ships/toons and what's available to you on the swgoh subreddit or forums and ask other players what would be best for you, you can also farm the ship for whatever your most powerful character who can fly a ship. what counts as the "best ship" is very subjective and dependent on you as a player.

"Just Be Patient and Keep Playing." is not an answer.

It appears to mean that there is no skill in playing this game. Nobody plays better or worse. 

But Arena is small and seemingly a simple module.

If one could play "Arena" more skillfully or more efficiently, it would be a minor bit of progress.

One could ask for a comprehensive guide for using Mods!

F2P is a True Path. 
I will not spend real money on this game until they produce a "User's Guide".
They havehad 10 years. 

And the Free LSTs makes one stronger, but STILL on the bottom of the heap.