WBL and such beyond level 40, for PCs, NPCs, etc.

[Schattenbach]

If I didn't miss anything, the WBL list provided by the Epic level handbook (which scales much slower than the non-epic list), if I remember correctly, ends at 40, is there any formular to take note of for the progression beyond that (though the WBL as helpful guideline becomes pretty pointless eventually, anyway, and doesn't make much sense in Sandbox like settings to begin with, expect for limiting the max value starting gear to some fraction of the WBL)?

I'm also wondering if there's much of a point (besides making fights for the PCs easier and reducing the workload when it comes to npc/monster creation) to use NPC WBL (or general NPC stuff, like the Elite Array instead of giving them point buy stats) for creatures with 20 or more class levels, because they're reasonably beyond the scale of being "ordinary" (as in ... its kind of hard to reach that point without being quite expectional), anyway (this obviously increases their CR a bit/counteracts the CR reduction for NPCs as suggested in the epic level handbook), so some advice here would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance.

[KillianHawkeye]

though the WBL as helpful guideline becomes pretty pointless eventually, anyway, and doesn't make much sense in Sandbox like settings to begin with

The thing about that is that WBL wasn't designed to be a measuring stick to compare to the treasure acquired by a character through play. That's just a thing people decided to do. The WBL tables are for starting a character at higher than 1st level, and they probably didn't expect anyone to start a character over 40th level. Once you get that high, most of your wealth is probably in armies, lands, favors, or other intangible assets anyway, so it's not even a useful way to measure the value of your gear anymore.

The game does have rules for treasure distribution, and my guess is that following them probably ends up roughly equivalent to the corresponding point on the table (at least up to a point), but what the DM is really supposed to do is to measure the amount of wealth a PC has in gear and treasure against what the other PCs in the party have and to keep them relatively balanced. If you do that, then you know what the average wealth in the party is, and it doesn't really matter what the WBL tables say.

Regardless, the system is not meant to be in balance constantly. Fluctuations and temporary imbalances are to be expected. Sometimes a party decides that certain characters get more of the loot because they can use it best, or because they're the only one who needs it. Other times, there will be a piece of particularly valuable loot (an artifact, for example) that will put one character well ahead of the rest. When such an imbalance occurs, evaluate the PCs' equipment to determine what kind of gear will be useful to whoever has the least, or use your knowledge of the character and player to find some other kind of treasure they will want, and place it in an upcoming loot drop when it makes sense to do so.