Obviously ce is important but you'll only be using it to craft and to buy upgrades which are rare(er). I imagine people do use it to extend their runs but yes it's useless if you're storing it. What if you see a cheap item you want to buy on the ah, you'll be running back to the market and paying trade fees every time you need cr. Also more private trades go on in cr than ce.

Except that's wrong. Well, most of them are; I don't trade Crystal Energy for Crowns so I cannot speak objectively for that. As for everything else, I haven't the faintest idea what made you think that, especially that private trades using Crowns over Crystal Energy. Crystal Energy is more important simply because it costs something and has monetary value while Crowns do not [as they can be infinitely generated without "cost"].

Side-note: if you plan on purchasing something from someone, and with CE being the primary currency of trade, hoarding it is the only way to afford such things - but that's end-game player logic.

Can anyone PLEASE just help me with the original question?

I already answered your question. You won't be gaining much after purchasing energy - perhaps 7000cr per 100 you spend. So yes, you can grind, but it is a long climb.

T2 & T3 = Profitable enough to earn crowns on mist, buy 100 CE, and be better off.

The question is, does each level yield you more than 600 crowns to cover the 10 CE cost? Most definitely after terminal on T2/T3.
Stratum 3 (pre-terminal tier 2) doesn't have a lot of crowns per each level, but the purpose is the opportunity to make more by buying recipes from basil and re-selling them for a profit. If you leave at terminal, then the run will likely not be profitable to cover CE costs.

Also, if you do not CE res, you will not use up all your mist on a single run. A normal T2 will require 80 CE to run, and a JK run will only need 70 CE, if you leave before the boss. (However, the boss is profitable for the 10CE at the end of the day, the question is whether you can reliably kill it without ressing.) The game has been balanced in an earlier patch so that a JK run yields about as much as other runs, so old threads about JK being the most lucrative are old. All runs of a given level should net you about the same in theory.

The only exception are arenas, especially when they are after the terminal. A gate with more arenas would be ideal for grinding.

The easiest way to figure this out is to start a run, write down how much crowns you have, and then do some quick math at the end to determine if you've made a profit at the current CE prices. If you have, then by all means, buy more CE and do the run again.

I haven't run T1 to see if it is profitable at current CE prices, but why waste your time when T2 will get you more.

They are better than other pre-terminal levels, but I am not sure how they compare to normal post-terminal levels.

Generally it's moot since the focus is just to do as many post-terminal levels for profit. If you start from the beginning of the tier, then take any advantage you can by doing arenas, but it's not like you have an option to skip a depth once you start. If you can skip to terminal by joining a party at random, or joining a guildmate or friend, then you are better off doing that.

T1 arenas are still good, but again, not as good as T2 arenas. If you're talking about looping, I won't be discussing that as it is not in compliance with the terms of service to which you've agreed.

"Did I really confuse him that much?"
Lol. For a second there, I thought that was to me.

xD

edit: Oh, you went and added the @[name] ---> Comment no longer relevant.

Your question is if doing something that is 'common knowledge' is profitable.
You then ask questions you apparently already know the answer to, then proceed to spout [bulltaco].

Clearly, you're an attention [craving Cheeto-eater].

T1 arenas are only marginally worse than T2 arenas. T2 arenas tend to make up for the greater challenge and marginally better profit with better materials, but that would only tend to matter if you get Gremlin Gizmos, Unstable Cores or Bushy Tails. (Or Ghost Bells, but 4* stuff is very rare in T2.)

OP, being new to this thread, I think you came off as the first to get hostile. Granted, Replicant mocked you, but for the first 7 posts, do you see them trying to help you? Then you started arguing about how crowns are more important than CE.

Since you're new, and you came in asking questions and looking for answers, just take them for now. CE is better to hang onto than crowns. Looping is bannable (in the sense of going solo and revinviting, etc). Replaying an entire tier is not bannable, so do that all you want. It's marginally profitable.

If you want to make some real profit early on, craft 2-3* gear on your off days using as much mist as possible. You can sell these for profit and if you get a UV, that's more profit, and potentially tons of profit (thousands of CE). If you don't have any off days, get an alt. OOO likes to dance around the topic of using an alt to craft, but it's not bannable or half the players here would be banned. If you're wary though, find a friend who doesn't play every day and get him to craft using his mist. It'll get you thousands of crowns per day. Surely asking a friend to craft is not bannable. You could also sell recipes, but those are small profit margins in the 1-3* range. Used to be profitable.

Your question is if doing something that is 'common knowledge' is profitable.
You then ask questions you apparently already know the answer to, then proceed to spout [horsefeathers].

Clearly, you're an attention [loving durian eater].
I like you.

I grind purely on ME. Mostly because I only spend a couple hours a day playing, and I make sure to do a run which I know will be most profitable to me. I solo, and I choose each level based on what I perceive to be the most crowns, which means I may wait 20 minutes for a level to rotate to my desired one. I go T2, and choose the gate that has the most arenas. If none of them do, I do a JK run (usually skipping the JK level since I don't need anything there now). I try to average a 75-100 crown/CE during my runs...meaning if I spend 70 energy on the run, I'd like to make between 5250 and 7000 crowns for it. The leftover ME will be used on random levels to get a few extra crown so I can wait the 22 hours before I log back in, or if I know I'll have extra time later in the day I'll save it to do another 1/2 run of a tier.

I generally buy a bit of CE when I can, usually only saving crowns if I know there's a particular recipe I'm searching for. I try to focus on one piece of equipment at a time, so I can get it finished then move on to the next one. That way I don't feel like I'm falling way behind in getting my extra stuff upgraded.

You can definitely buy CE and grind (looping a tier, not level, is what you're getting at). I just suggest not doing it until you can solo without death, because the only real effective way to grind is when you choose each level for it's optimum crown output. And to go for the optimum, it takes extra waiting time...so it's a matter of how much time you expect to spend on the game each day.

Ok 1st things 1st. If you think you are good enough search for gates that have 2 or more arenas those give good amount crowns and heat. But if you do Jelly King runs those are good too. I personally do Jelly King cuz I need some tokens but it's a profitable run. I usually get 7,000 crowns and good amount of heat. I start whit 100 mist energy and get for ex: 7,500 crowns from the run and still have ~20 mist energy. I buy 100 crystal energy from the crowns 1,500 crowns remain ( I do this at night ). So tomorrow when I get back from school if have 100 mist energy 1,500 crowns and 100 crystal energy. And do this till I get enough to craft my 5 star item.