Honestly, I have no idea why crown crates, loot boxes, whatever you want to call them are still a thing. RNG when it comes to these crates is such a terrible, soul crushing experience. I'll admit, I've seen items in the crown store that I've really wanted but because Zos locks them behind crown gems, I'm stuck to buying crates and hoping the item I want drops. Majority of the time, the items are either duplicates or trash pots, mimic stones, costume dyes or something else I have no use for. I understand you have the option to exchange them for crown gems but you only get so many crown gems back in this process and even then, the items in the crown store are so highly priced that you're stuck to just buying more crown crates, it's a vicious cycle.
Now I get it, this is how they make the $$ but I'm sitting here scratching my head wondering why Zos doesn't follow the Fortnite item shop method. You see a item you want, you buy your v-bucks or use your v-bucks that you've saved up, you purchase your item. Boom. No RNG gambling nonsense. There's absolutely no way Zos wouldn't still make $$ from this method, not to mention, happier players. Sure, still give us the option to gift items, still use endeavors, but crown gems/crates need to be gone, it's just a poor system where the rewards are minimal most of the time