The fruit/wood/cannon crates have only been through found quests for the past 5 years or so. The kegs were sometimes found in animal quest missions until season 11, which is why they were 100 instead of 50(they could be voted on until you find one vs having to scavenge for a found quest). It has always been hard to complete these.
And while I do agree it was an oversight on their part when redoing the missions, it is the kegs that are significantly harder, while the fruit/wood/cannon are only slightly harder. I say slightly because while the parchments were indeed removed from barrels, when you pick up a bottle quest you can get up to 3 now, when it used to only be 1. I’ve had all 3 be crate deliveries once.
Another important reason why I say slightly is the mysterious journals do still exist and give the quests they always did and those journals have been the best way of grinding these commendations for a while. So since those haven’t been removed or changed, it’s only slightly harder.
I have received multiple wood, fruit, cannonball, and keg bottles since the change while hunting for kingly treasure. I offer them to people I know need them, there’s a community where people post things like this for offer. So maybe look into finding one like that, will likely not only help you in finishing them but teach you some ways to find them easier(such as maybe you didn’t know the journals will give them too).
Balance suggestion:
I’d say a good way to balance this would be remove keg deliveries from found quests and put them back in with animals as a possibility. This should increase crates slightly while bringing kegs back to the ease they were before season 11.