I wanted to (hopefully) start a discussion over how relatively new players ought to be spending their first 800-1000 DCs on a new account given the current game climate after seeing the disagreement in the current event thread. From what I read, most people's opinion on when to be buying what seem to be very close despite all the heated debate. The addition of X and G dailies I think may have changed things a fair degree also.

I can start by giving my own take. I started playing during the off week before General of a Ruined Land Event. Keep in mind this means Awakening has been a thing the entire time I've played. Given the amount of time it takes to get to the point of farming Crystal Keeper H, I didn't put as big a premium on saving for Spica first. Bashira from tutorial and perfect Shao was very easy for even a 3 week account to get, with Rita soon after and Spica not being necessary for H daily farm. My first 200 Crystals went to Awakens for Monica for more DCs (early Shrine roll luck) and then Katie. I actually would have put a higher premium on Iris over Katie but lacked the extra silver healers from being new, and now I'm obviously saving for Spica and awakening her.

Cyrus and Akane are seemingly not worth it early on, but Saki seems to have an important role on particular event maps. Where do you draw the line on spending crystals for Saki over awakening more units? I'm of the opinion (again, new player) that I will be getting Saki after finishing Spica and awakening Iris assuming I can get silver fodder from events. I just don't have many premium units that gain a lot from AW. Early SC has to go towards Barracks expansion so it will be a while before I start picking up any preponderance of units that gain a lot from Awakening (I'm thinking % increasers like Bernice, the higher rarity Healers, units that increase droprates, etc.) More awakened units will make Higher maps easier but I'd be pretty bummed if a near future event left me high and dry because no access to "ranged on melee" unit while I was just awakening all of my mediocre gold units. Can Maxed/Reduced Hayate available from story map fill her role? The addition of Viera seems weird to me as well. Players swear by her not being a Ninja replacement but then what was Nutaku's intention with giving everyone access to her? What niche do Sailors fill?

To summarize, I think Spica and awakening her should be any new player/account's first DC purchases given how important she is with new X and G Crystal Keeper. After that you will want more awakens but how many before someone like Saki? This changes if you are spending money for premium units from Shrine obviously but what would you be doing if you only had access to base units and fodder for first ~4 months?