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.