Is there a gear imbalance/crunch, similar to the previous credit crunch?

There sure is, stun things being the primary bottleneck. They missed a big opportunity putting them in challenges in the last cap raise. The thing is a gear 8 toon isn't any more worthy then a newly unlocked one. For long term players this means 50+ 7* characters with only about 20 being qualified for use. Check my roster for illustration of it after 13 months.