Starting with Pheonix means a weak start in Fleet (instead of going with Wiggs/Ackbar, easy farm). Fleet gets you 200 crystals per day if you finish on top 10. You won't have strong pilots by the time you reach Lv65, Ghost and Phantom are long to farm.
Choose your priority, PVP or Fleet. Fleet pays more (crystals) but Pheonix will get you through GW almost all the time (15 shards per day).
Spend your crystals on energy only (cantina first), don't buy cards or anything else.
If you spend money it's different, you shall definitely go for Pheonix first and buy ships and crew later on.
Only Lv up to get gear accessible and don't aquire too many toons (very tempting), keep a balanced roster.