That is the way the Test Realm has always been run. KI occasionally restocks the number of Crowns you have but don't count on it. Which means you need to manage your Crowns like they were the only ones you get. An example of this is this last Test Realm where they did not restock the Crowns (at least that I am aware of). For me, I try to treat the Test Realm like it was the Live Realm with the exception that I can do actions which I probably would not do in the Live Realm. While in the Test Realm, I have purchased things from the Crown Shop and found that some of them did help me survive some battles I was having trouble with. I then used this information in the Live Realm. Also, I try to save my Crowns for Second Chance Chests and if I need a Henchman to survive a battle that would ordinarily send me back to latest Life Fountain. I would think that only if they were testing an item/person from the Crown Shop would they give/restock Crowns. The Test Realm is for them to test what they have added to the game to see how it affects game play and to correct any problems that might have been missed. If they gave us a huge amount of Crowns, everyone would buy the best equipment and Companions and this would not give them a good picture of how the game would work with the new additions.

I don't understand what you would need those crowns for. Test realm rarely goes up simply for Crowns items. If KI felt that we needed more crowns to thoroughly test we would get more crowns.