Getting a Good Start in SWGoH: Part 2 -- Hoarding

If you've recently started this game and looking into starter guides, you're probably past level 28 and I can't help you that much -- unless you want to consider restarting. As long as you're struggling in the hundreds or thousands in arena, and haven't put too much time or money into the game, I'd highly recommend a restart, following this guide. Keep playing your original account because that will be somewhat enjoyable and you'll learn a lot about the game, but give the new account a serious try, and you might find you enjoy it a lot more, especially with the experience you've gained from the first one.

The short version is that you can hoard resources by staying at level 27 (before you unlock arena), and then enter into an arena shard with a head start. Arena shards are groups of 20,000 players that reach level 28 around the same time. After 20,000 players have entered one shard, the next one opens. This can take several days, and even a 1 day head start will put you too far behind to catch up in arena before level 85. You can spend anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months to get a good head start. It's boring, but will make the game much more fun when you get there as you'll be able to compete in arena from level 28 through 85 (otherwise you might have a hard time every breaking top 100).

Start a new account and pick a time zone that works well for you -- otherwise you will have to do arena around 6pm, depending on daylight savings. Additionally, if you live in a major time zone, like Eastern, Central, or Pacific in the US, you might want to consider setting your time zone to the ocean (or mountain time). You also might want your payout later at night or earlier in the day -- however, make sure you can regularly collect lunchtime energy (6 hours before your payout time).
Level it however you would to about level 20, then stop. From there, I would recommend only leveling using the train a hero mission up to 27 -- this will generate tickets, which you will really need at level 28, it will save you a very large pile of crystals (30c per 20 tickets).

I would recommend logging in twice a day, once for the 'noon' energy, and once for 'evening' energy.  Be very careful about collecting this energy -- it's easy to accidentally finish a quest, which could push you into level 28. The first free energy of the day gives you cantina and regular, while the later one gives you just regular. You can log in a third time for additional regular energy, which adds up, but is hardly necessary. During this time, you should also do the challenges, check shipments, and get a free Bronzium draw. This will take you a couple minutes per day. I would recommend getting a full month's worth of daily logins before entering a game -- the crystals from these give you a significant head start. Additionally, you will get a lot of credits, training droids, ability mats, and challenge and shipment gear that will help you for a very long time.

Once you get to a point where you're ready to go to level 28, create a couple more accounts, and level them straight to 27. If you can get a couple friends to hoard resources with you, you probably all only need to make one extra account. Use whatever crystals you have to rush to level 27 -- you won't be using these accounts past that point. From my testing, arena shards generally reset every 2-5 days, at 20,000 account, so try pushing the first one over to 28 asap. If they enter in the 1st-1000th place, now is the time to join your hoarded account. Between 1000-5000, you can consider joining then, but I'd recommend waiting until you can get better placement -- not that it matters too much. Beyond 5000, you can decide how patient you want to be, with the extra stuff you've saved, you should be able to reach top 20 after a couple days of climbing, but if you've given it a month or two of saving, why not wait a couple more days for a fresh arena shard? Keep making alts and pushing them to level 28 until you can get into a new arena shard.

From there, spend all your cantina/regular energy on the faction you want (see my other faction post), and level as fast as you can. From here, I'd highly recommend spending 3x cantina and 3x regular refreshes until you reach level 50 -- this is a huge breaking point because of mods.

Getting a Good Start in SWGoH: Part 1 -- Starter Factions

Important: regardless of the faction you go, you will need a handful of scoundrels for credit heists -- Boba Fett is all but required for this and is farmable from the Cantina store and a couple hard nodes. Lando and Stormtrooper Han also help with this.

1) Phoenix
This is the de facto starter team. They have great synergy and you get access to them early: Hera and Ezra from the first two Cantina zones, Chopper from Cantina store, Zeb from GW at level 40, and Kanan from arena. They are rebels and get EP later on, and two are Jedi, which help you get GMY. They are effective in early arena, but you will have to transition away from them at some point.

2) Nightsisters
This is a new one I've been working on, and have kept me reaching top 20 through level 50 (beyond that the whales are too good to beat right now). Similar to Phoenix, they are all in easy reach: Daka from Cantina store, Acolyte from cantina, Talia from starter, hard, and cantina, and Asajj from Arena. Until I'm able to save up 2000 crystals to buy Zombie shards, I'm running Royal Guard as the 5th. This is a strong early and late arena comp -- and once I also acquire Talzin, will likely keep me in the top 5 until people build end game teams. While I'm currently struggling against higher star/level/gear Phoenix, I easily beat similar comps. They also help you get Talzin and Zombie/Spirit shards from events later.

3) First Order
These guys take a little longer to get rolling -- Kylo Ren Unmasked unlocks from the third cantina zone, while Kylo Ren and Executioner are also in Cantina. Officer is in the Cantina Store, Phasma is in the GW store, and FOST and FOTP are hard farms (but unlock easily). I would start with KRU to 5*, then work on Executioner. Start out with KRU (L), Phasma, Officer, and then add in additional FO units as you unlock them. Since Phoenix don't have heal immunity, and don't hit particularly hard (except Ezra), KRU is able to heal through them pretty easily with his unique, and you can counter Phoenix by level 50 or so.