As was mentioned several times already; if
@SlamaTwoFlags and his team want to reward dedicated players but not induce this insane grind to 175 levels, why not change the 100+ level cosmetic achievements linking them instead of time limited Journey levels to games played using the Journeys main character (in this case Ciri).
If you want to reward time spent playing the game then make the extra cosmetic rewards for playing 200, 300 or even 500 matches with Ciri as your leader. That way people who can't play hours each day will eventually get there even after the Journey is long finished, and people who can get there faster (the crazy grinders) will be rewarded by having the cosmetics months or even years earlier then others who play more casually, few games a week.
I don't get why this would not be a much better system and would promote healthy gaming habits not compelling people to play countless hours each day in fear of missing out on cool cosmetics from the Journey they paid for.