More toward your question about level freezing though 750 Sun coins is 5 Advanced refine runes, you can do the event multiple times a week- so level freezing is still "possibly" the best way to go if you're winning Sage 1st spot, every time, if not there's little point.

I haven't done the math behind it all, but I'd honestly go as far as to say that level freezing isn't as mandatory as it used to be, for sure.