I want to give feedback on this from my experience over the years with upgrade systems during the lifetime of Destiny 1 (a game that has very similiar upgrade/gear systems like WoW).
Side Note: At this point I had a very lengthy post written down but decided to shorten it only on the relevant aspects.
Separate the Crest limits into a “Soft Cap” and “Hard Cap”. Bungie did the same in Destiny 1 with the power progression and it is still used today in Destiny 2.
Now, to be clear for everyone else not familiar with those terms. “Soft/Hard cap” refers to leveling zones on the number scale (in this context) with different time gating and/or difficulty to get.
Soft caps are the range for item level and progression that is easy to achieve.
Hard caps are the range for item level and progression that is hard to achieve.
That means:
- Everything related to leveling and “early endgame” should be in the soft cap. That includes Open World activities, (heroic) dungeons, LFR raids and regular PvP.
- Everything related to engame in general and pinnacle activities should be in the hard cap. That includes Normal->Heroic->Mythic raiding, Mythic 0+ and Rated PvP.
In context with the Crests that means (due to changes in S4), that the Whelpling crests should be completely uncapped in earning since they serve the sole purpose of being for leveling. Every other crest should have different weekly limits.
I am merely making a placeholder example here so please don’t take those numbers serious. I am also taking the “balancing” from the S4 Dungeon changes as reference for this example:
https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_entry_media/qp/QPD55AFMNRCG1709861481034.png
- (Soft Cap 1) Crests from Leveling/Normal content → Uncapped
- (Soft Cap 2) Crests from Heroic content → Capped at 300[Placeholder] a week
- (Hard Cap 1) Crests from M0-3 and similar content → Capped at 200[Placeholder] a week
- (Hard Cap 2) Crests from M4-10+ and similar content → Capped at 100[Placeholder] a week
Leveling should be supported without barriers in WoW so people can “get into the endgame content” more easily. Having the Whelplings Crests limited would be a mistake. Meanwhile the endgame should get increasingly more capped to keep players longer motivated while not being too restricted!