I wouldn't say it's outright better to go for artifacts. Tywin and Vildred would still help any early game player immensely, but I do agree artifacts have become more important and yes,SCs now do offer a multitude of solutions to the needs of early game players. If anything I just think it has become muuuuch more easier for early game players to get started strong on their road 

I don't know that there are any make-or-break artifacts in the Selective Summon to say folks should worry about it over the hero. With all the freebies and ease of attaining new stuff thrown at new players now, their priority should first and foremost be saving up for the next ltd. In general saving up for the next ltd should be every F2P player's goal, as it's the most likely return on investment if they're at all worried about that. If all they want is to run around w/ their favorites, then I would still suggest saving the same way since a custom banner will likely come either for anniversary or Christmas, letting pull that favored unit. 

I don't think any SC right now is much of a difference maker to say it's something to focus on. Of course some will be helpful, but it heavily depends on what else they've lucked into.

Maxing storage is a good idea. For Moonlight Blessing, STene is probably the "most meta" right now. Arby is still fairly strong. The rest are basically niche picks. 

I don't think so. Imo you leave the human aspect out of this. I play gacha games because i like collecting and building characters; nothing would make me stop playing faster than getting just artifacts or focusing on them. Enjoyment of the game (and a huge part of that is rare character collection) should always stay at the forefront for any beginner.

Now, i'm not saying we shouldn't write good intented guides, but we should also not forget that humans play those games. I stood with E7 because i was rather lucky with my pulls early on, if i hadn't i would've left. Getting artifacts annoyed the hell out of me.

So, yes, optimize guides like saying save rather for collabs, but let's also say: if you want x waifu/husbando so you have fun, go for it even if it's not something i would do.