why is there a limit to how often i can replace the table?
60 mins time interval limit only applies to "Replace Lookup Table Data" workflow activity. You can replace the lookup table manually from Data Management page as often as you need.
The purpose of Replace Lookup Table Data activity is to provide a way to synch your data with your lookup table so you can use that data in your workflows, forms, etc. There is a limit on Replace Lookup Table Data activity to avoid inconsistencies and data loss when there are data queries rely on that lookup table, because Replace Lookup Table Data overrides the existing lookup table data.
If you need to update the lookup table more often I suggest using Run Rule activity with Lookup Table Queries.
how would you go about doing queries that involve 500+ rows ..? iteration limit
The replace activity is great for updating instances of 500 or more rows .. current live situation would be to replace around 1000 rows.
my workflow is designed in a recursive method to avoid the iteration limitation but the initial workflow with the replace activity must be run more often...
do you have a solution for wf+queries that will push all rows to look up table that would include rows of 1k+?
Could you describe your use case?
It may be that you need a thing that is more powerful than lookup tables, and I'd like to have your input.