User blog comment:JTOnstead20/Recursive Recursion Function/@comment-24920136-20161104080900

Theres two problems with this approach, first, prime numbers would cause your function to become stuck and not grow.

Secondly, it  implies that for each nonprime N there exists a unique representation of the form a operator b. This is not the case, for example, 729 = 9^3 but also 729 = 9*81, so 729 star 2 could be 9^3^...^3 with 9^3 times OR 9*81*...*81 for 9*81 times. (a third representation is 3^6 )

as for growth, its much like 3rd bracket number of NAN