Upcoming Focus

Don't be afraid to miss a legendary event. They always come back, and if you don't plan to use GMY in the arena or somewhere else that's important to you in the next 2 months, just continue to develop the teams you're already working on and get him next time.

Agreed. Don't worry about Yoda this time around. He comes around every other month, and you don't really need him just yet. I think it's a mistake to deviate from Phoenix. Instead, just keep farming them, and keep farming their gear. Get them all to Gear 9 before moving on to something else. Then, when Thrawn does come back, the event will be significantly easier. Also, you'll have a decent enough team that can work still work well in the Arena (for a little while longer for you at your level), the GW, TWs, TBs, and even Fleet Arena (if you also farm the blueprints for their two ships there).

You are a long way from the Commander Luke requirements, so don't worry about Old Ben until you finish Hera and Ezra. Don't farm Luminara; use your GW tokens to finish Biggs first; he's the most important toon in that shop, and is vital to pretty much every Fleet. Likewise, stop farming QGJ and start farming Chopper again. When you finish Chopper, there are other more important toons in that shop than QGJ (who, like Luminara, isn't really needed anywhere in the game).

Edit: Here, just follow this guide. It isn't perfect, but it is as close as you'll find. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2_J_BwXSOY

Focus on getting R2. You've already got a good Empire squad to do that. Farm them up.

Thank you for all of the responses!

I've pushed into the top 50 with my empire team after gearing up Thrawn and Tarkin some. I'm going to focus my arena pts into 7* tarkin for R2D2 and fleet, finish up Chopper from Cantina rewards before switching to someone else (who to choose if not QGJ?), pick up Biggs to 7* from GW and excess fleet tokens if Vader/T-Adv tokens aren't there. Not sure what to focus on with cantina energy though. TFP for arena and fleet?

When should I typically focus on guild event/raid characters in that case? Will working on my empire team also be building a proper team for HPit, etc? I think it's too ambitious to try for 7* R2 by next time it arrives, and GMY isn't feasible either, so feeling a little stuck.

I had a look and use that farming guide btw! I'll try working on those for the time being.