What spreadsheet are you talking about? Even having a good reference would be nice. I'm about to break 1k and need to start focusing on my approach a bit.
And thanks for the info guys. Glad I'm not off-base about my concerns with all this damn currency management. As weird as it sounds, if it wasn't as convoluted, I don't think I'd mind it. Destiny has 2 main currencies and a shit ton of reputations to grind. However, the grind on all of those currencies and reputations is VERY simple. It's annoying, but at least it's clear. Skyforge has so many things to grind for but no real good way to know how to do it.
Also, the boss fight HP bars in relation to the HP orbs and lack of healers...That makes a bit more sense. I never really considered the lack of healers having an impact on how the bosses played out. Whatever the case, I DO love the way the bosses and fights play out. The way they feel just a hair too long is annoying, but I'll adapt.
I enjoy the game too much right now to drop it for my concerns. I felt the need to get those things off my chest if for no other reason than for someone to say, "Hey, you're right...But it gets better." I am almost always the first to jump on board that train. I'm fine putting hours into a game early on to get to the meat. We'll see - I'll keep on pushing forward and hope for a revelation!
For what it's worth, I judge games with complex systems on how well I can explain said systems to a new player. Right now, I couldn't do that with much in this game. I know I'm too early to be a fair judge of it, but I'm hoping that by the time I reach ~10k, I'll have a grasp on how this game really works.
@SpiritReaver, as far as the prestige/dungeon levels go, if you pull up the drop down menu for the stars before you jump into an instance it tells you what the next difficulty/prestige level is. So say you're on 3 stars and its hard, if you look at 4 it'll tell you what prestige level that difficulty unlocks. The game always defaults instances to the hardest difficulty you have unlocked for your prestige.
As far as the currencies go, they could go with a few less, but the important ones aren't confusing at all at least to me. Most mmo's have convoluted currencies nowadays anyway. Look at Destiny for example. The easiest way to know what currency you need without looking at an atlas multiple times is to just set a path in the atlas through the nodes you want to unlock. For those that don't know how, you right click a node and then just hit find path. Then when you are playing a colored icon for the next node you need will show up near your HP bar and will fill once you reach the amount you need.
E: I mentioned Destiny myself for the exact opposite reason you brought up - I feel like it's VERY clear how to earn the various currencies that game offers. 2 major marks, glimmer, and rep. At least rep is as simple as "Equip this item to gain rep for this faction in everything you do!"