**WINTER OF WOE - BONUS OBJECTIVE POINT**
As previously announced, the team will be distributing an additional point toward milestones to anyone who completed the Absorbing Man fight in the first step of the Winter of Woe.
This point will be distributed at a later time as it requires the team to pull and analyze data.
The timeline has not been set, but work has started.

Gifting Badge Discussion [Merged Threads]

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Comments

  • Wakandas_FinestWakandas_Finest Posts: 811 ★★★★
    Cranmer00 said:

    I’m sending a ticket to apple. Kabam thinks that some bad apples messing up their revenue. Wait until I get a refund and rate them in the App Store.

    I paid money for an item, not 300 **** units for it.

    Not only that, we had to gift alliance member revives or heals multiple times this past AQ/AW week and now we will no longer be able to.

    This will lead to more kicked players and just an overall bs Meta

    You did it to yourself kabam so see how your revenue does from this past season to next. When you see your money has been lowered, don’t come back 1-3 months later and reinstate it, the damage will be too late by then.

    I’m sure they will implement variant 2.0 or some super hard quest in the next month or 2. I can guarantee I will not be spending on it like I did legitiably on variant.

    I expect removing gifting to cause alliances to falter in AW and AQ and I hope it does. Gifting during AW and AQ was a kind of pay to win aspect of the game I never liked. Maybe wars and AQ will be a little more balanced going forward.
  • Cranmer00Cranmer00 Posts: 528 ★★
    If ToS

    Cranmer00 said:

    I’m sending a ticket to apple. Kabam thinks that some bad apples messing up their revenue. Wait until I get a refund and rate them in the App Store.

    I paid money for an item, not 300 **** units for it.

    Not only that, we had to gift alliance member revives or heals multiple times this past AQ/AW week and now we will no longer be able to.

    This will lead to more kicked players and just an overall bs Meta

    You did it to yourself kabam so see how your revenue does from this past season to next. When you see your money has been lowered, don’t come back 1-3 months later and reinstate it, the damage will be too late by then.

    I’m sure they will implement variant 2.0 or some super hard quest in the next month or 2. I can guarantee I will not be spending on it like I did legitiably on variant.

    I expect removing gifting to cause alliances to falter in AW and AQ and I hope it does. Gifting during AW and AQ was a kind of pay to win aspect of the game I never liked. Maybe wars and AQ will be a little more balanced going forward.
    I think it will cause more of a gap between the whales and the f2p/small/moderate spenders
  • CommonSenseCommonSense Posts: 54

    That is true, but the point I'm bringing home is it's absolutely necessary because of the severity of the issue. It's not really on a whim, or because they can do what they want. It's a very serious situation, one that requires action that stops any and all possibility of it happening again. At the very least, in this capacity. The information doesn't just come out of thin air. For example, if someone used a Mod to enter Credit Card info, that doesn't come out of The Ether. In order for it to work, there has to be a valid Credit Card. There are other people on the other side of that. It's serious stuff.

    TOS, they reserve the right to do anything when they see fit...hey, it sucks but it’s true.

    TOS has all the issues covered my friend, doesn’t matter if it serious or not...when they need something to happen right off the bat or something that takes months to decide the TOS has there back, I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, could be for multiple situations that arise, without it they would be in a bad spot. For any and all situations that require a change whether it be sudden or gradual the TOS is there in place to make it happen. If the subject was serious as credit cards being stolen then congrats on stopping the problem, I understand. I’m just stating the TOS is in place for that situation and anything that includes change without the community having knowledge or feedback on the situation...they reserve the right. Good or bad, like or dislike...it’s just the truth, TOS is the community’s brick wall and is what keeps the game under the developers control. It’s there game, we just play.
  • ChampioncriticChampioncritic Posts: 3,347 ★★★★
    It sucks that they have the right to modify etc, cant do anything about it. But they could be nice and at the very least give us the 850 units that would be the offer that we would have to buy in order to get the gifting badge.
  • tkhan08tkhan08 Posts: 189 ★★
    I paid $30 got the gifting badge. I don't get 300 units return. If anything, kabam should return more units than $30 worth as a gesture.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 36,168 ★★★★★
    That is important to realize, but I think that's a bit stark, and not a response for everything. I made people aware of that previously because I feel it's important to be aware of it when making purchases. I think it's always important to be aware of the TOS.
    However, it's not a cover-all. Contrary to most of the reactions, they do care about what people want. More than any other game I've ever seen. They take feedback into consideration, and that's seldom acknowledged when people don't agree with something. It's not a situation where they use that to pull whatever they like. There are reasons behind the decisions they make, and as with most decisions, you have to balance the need with the ramifications that follow. This just happens to be one of those situations where they had to take drastic action because the offense was drastic. If anything, I blame the selfish people who had to ruin it for everyone by stealing and hawking their wares. You would be totally inept not to stop it.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 36,168 ★★★★★

    It sucks that they have the right to modify etc, cant do anything about it. But they could be nice and at the very least give us the 850 units that would be the offer that we would have to buy in order to get the gifting badge.

    We got them when we bought them. Lol.
  • CommonSenseCommonSense Posts: 54
    Talking strictly about the TOS as in regarding what it states that can be done and what it wants it’s user to know and understand, all the answers are there in the TOS readout. Every time you log in and play your under the TOS oath, good or bad...you take it as it comes. Put the game down for 10 minutes and take the time to read the TOS...it’s not hidden information and can clear up most of all game gripes. If anyone chooses to spend money or invest years in the game it’s on them, it’s all covered in the TOS.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 36,168 ★★★★★
    Some of that is common sense, though. I can't think of a Mobile Game that's folded which gave back what people put into it.
  • PufffPufffPufffPufff Posts: 53
    Many people are furious with KABAM for removing the gifting badge (I also bought the badge a year or so ago just to be clear), but if you think about it...with all the scams, it was bound to happen. People using bots to grind arena for units to sell items, or using credit card fraud, etc

    Maybe this removal will also minimize bots in arena because it's not profitable anymore (hopefully)

    Anyway...i'm rambling...the solution as mentioned

    Most guys are upset about the removal of the badge, because they can't get help from alliance members/friends with regards to a health pot or revive in AW, or an energy refill to finish a path in EQ. Stuff that you can always gift back once you get some units from completing content or arena.

    Easy solution...maybe "gifting" available within an alliance once the members has been in the alliance for a per-dertemined amount of time, so he/she can't just join an alliance to get items and leave (that wont solve the fraud), BUT for loyal alliance members to still build coalition and team building within any alliance. That way, if said player has been in the specific alliance for more than 10 days for instance, other members can still send a Health Pot to help in AW

    @Kabam Miike @Kabam Zibiit @Kabam Vydious @Kabam Lyra @Kabam Porthos maybe something to discuss with the team to "ease" the anger from the player base that wants to compete within the laws of the game, but still wants some sort of gifting between alliance mates?
  • BloodshedzBloodshedz Posts: 45
    Hopefully kabam will give these credit card fraud losers a week ban again.
    Remember that kabam?
    Yeah..you guys are really trying to stop it.
    Well done!
  • foll05foll05 Posts: 0
    This is about the gifting badge that has been suspended by kabam. The problem is that I paid 30 $ and I’m getting back only 300 units, this is a situation where kabam shows that no interest in mid tier players. I’m being penalised for other players this is unfair
  • This is an abuse of fair trade laws here in Australia... if you don’t wish to obey the laws of all countries that you offer the game in then do not offer it to those countries ... 300 units for something people paid real money for ... good luck fighting the class action that is coming for you. After all the criminal activities you have taken part in over the last 4+ years.. you will be sorry and should be very worried
  • Maat_ManMaat_Man Posts: 13

    It sucks that they have the right to modify etc, cant do anything about it. But they could be nice and at the very least give us the 850 units that would be the offer that we would have to buy in order to get the gifting badge.

    We got them when we bought them. Lol.
    yeah but i never bought it for the units.
    i bought it for the badge on 2 accounts.
    that is AUD$90.
    i spent $90 on something i can no longer use.
    pretty sure that breaches Australia fair trade laws.
    certainly have a right and a recourse for a refund here in Australia.

    i only ever bought units for the badge.
    no badeg i never would have bough units.
    they can take back the 850 units for all i care.
    i dont want compensation.
    i want a refund.
    i spent $90 on something i can no longer use.

    i uinderstand why the have disabled it.
    but allow me to take a refund.
    I WILL GIVE BACK THE 850 units so i can have my $46.99 back.
    from eachg of my accounts,
    and from my partners account.
    so that is AUD$150 we have been robbed of.
    LET US GET OUR MONEY BACK.
  • Maat_ManMaat_Man Posts: 13
    here in australia when the government made a choice to switch off analog tv signals and have only digital, you know what they did?
    they gave everyone about 2 years warning to buy a set top box or new tv,
    and then when it came time they went as far as giving everyone a set top box so they could continue using their existing TV.
    you know why?
    cus its the right thing to do.
    and under our fair trading laws it would be a very fine line of legality to suddenly make someones purchase no longer work as intended when they purchased it
  • OKAYGangOKAYGang Posts: 524 ★★★

    SparkAlot said:

    @Kabam Miike it is pretty obvious that it is CreditCard Fraud going on, but, it seems like a odd way to "fix" the problem.

    Person uses stolen CC to buy stuff. This is logged information, and can be traced to the account that bought it correct?

    That person then sells stuff to someone else. Again, this transaction is logged, is it not?

    So, to fix it, you ban the original person's account forever, and then remove the item(s) that they sent to the other person, and tell the buyer of the gifts that if they attempt to do it again, they are banned for life.

    Problem solved.

    When you complete a purchase in Game, it's not directly with us. It's with your App Store, and the payment information is processed by them.

    The actions we can take are limited by the information that we have access too.
    So curious why is this Kabam's problem at all then and not the App Store's responsibility? I could see Kabam cooperating with an app store investigation by limiting gifting to alliance mates only for a while but permantly disabling gifting for everyone seems a bit much when as you stated This is due to real world info and real world fraud, yet Kabam doesn't even handle that real world info, the App stores do.
  • OKAYGangOKAYGang Posts: 524 ★★★
    kconrad37 said:

    There were people on social media and the line app offering gifting services. In exchange for say $20 they would send a ridiculous amount of revives, health pots, boosts, etc. Way more than what a player could get with $20 worth of units

    If those people were legitimately mining units to gift that stuff, why is it a big deal that someone paid them to mine gifts for them? That is basic economic activity at work. In any economy, you pay people for things that you don't want to manufacture yourself.

    If those people found a way to hack the game to get free resources then that is the exploit that should be addressed.
    Because those people were not legitimately mining units to gift that stuff.
    So this is that people are stealing personal information such as bank accounts or credit card numbers, using these to purchase units and then proceed to gift items or resources to friends/alliance mates, etc.?

    I want to make sure I understand this completely.

    Also, I do seriously believe that 300 units was a pittance in comparison to the minimum 850 we had to purchase in order to get the gifting badge to begin with. I think this requires another look.
    I think what you said is spot on Except they are probably selling the gifted items purchased with the stolen info at a discount on the black market.
  • OKAYGangOKAYGang Posts: 524 ★★★
    BOSSXL said:

    Let’s keep this real. Resource Mercs farm battle chips from arenas on multiple accounts and then sell resources to players at a huge discount. Usually half price. You get $100 worth of resources for $50 sent thru paypal or other source. This does not require sharing passwords or account info and was entirely within the rules of the competition and gifting badges. Most resource mercs we’re playing by the rules. Some may have been using arena bots and some may have been purchasing units from stolen Or fraudulent methods. It’s possible. But the real takeaway should be how many people were purchasing these resources and take notice. It shows your pricing for these items is too high.

    You took steps to eliminate the resource drops for AQ. You created a conversion badge to compete with the mercs that join alliances, drop massive amounts of gold, battle chips and loyalty and then leave alliance. It was smart to offer the conversion badge and compete and provide better value. You should do the same thing with the resources from gifting. Slash the prices in half. Provide better value and you will not lose players by the thousands and possibly even gain new spending players and entice F2P players to open their wallets again.
    That is smart decision.
    This action effects blue collar players much more than any other segment. The whale alliances don’t really care about pricing. They don’t have to. This effect players willing to spend but not able to afford the pricing that you have set. I hope you take notice of this and make a move before the exodus.

    True story bro.
  • LormifLormif Posts: 7,369 ★★★★★
    Life is unfair, they had limited options.
  • so they took away my gifting badge and yes 300 credits is an insult but at the same time asking for money back just aint gunna happen KABAM shouldve refunded is the whole amount in the ingame currency at the very least but they just dont care lol
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 36,168 ★★★★★
    edited March 2019
    OKAYGang said:

    BOSSXL said:

    Let’s keep this real. Resource Mercs farm battle chips from arenas on multiple accounts and then sell resources to players at a huge discount. Usually half price. You get $100 worth of resources for $50 sent thru paypal or other source. This does not require sharing passwords or account info and was entirely within the rules of the competition and gifting badges. Most resource mercs we’re playing by the rules. Some may have been using arena bots and some may have been purchasing units from stolen Or fraudulent methods. It’s possible. But the real takeaway should be how many people were purchasing these resources and take notice. It shows your pricing for these items is too high.

    You took steps to eliminate the resource drops for AQ. You created a conversion badge to compete with the mercs that join alliances, drop massive amounts of gold, battle chips and loyalty and then leave alliance. It was smart to offer the conversion badge and compete and provide better value. You should do the same thing with the resources from gifting. Slash the prices in half. Provide better value and you will not lose players by the thousands and possibly even gain new spending players and entice F2P players to open their wallets again.
    That is smart decision.
    This action effects blue collar players much more than any other segment. The whale alliances don’t really care about pricing. They don’t have to. This effect players willing to spend but not able to afford the pricing that you have set. I hope you take notice of this and make a move before the exodus.

    True story bro.
    I'm sorry, but nothing about that is true. Resource Mercs selling Resources for money is not, I repeat NOT, playing by the rules. It's actually illegal. Regardless of whether they Grinded for Units or not. The game is the digital property of Kabam. It is not for resale.
    Blaming the prices for illegal and illicit behavior is about as irreverent as it comes, and shows anything but a conscience about stealing. People are responsible for their own choice to steal. It's not justified by the price of things. Children learn at a very early age, don't take what doesn't belong to you. For some reason, that doesn't stick.
    That's not only the situation we are talking about. There is also Fraud happening that involves other people. No amount of gripe with the prices will make this behavior justifiable.
    It's flat-out sad that people are so unconscionable that they don't consider other people or the ramifications of their actions. They don't care as long as they make a quick buck and stick it to Kabam. Only, they stick it to themselves and everyone else in the end, and this is the direct result of that.
    It is not Kabam's fault it's come to this. It's people who played the system like a well-oiled flute.
  • GriffoplayGriffoplay Posts: 265
    Hi, I can understand the reasons behind the decision of KAbam.

    What I really don't understand is why honest players should always lose out. Couse it is the easyest way? hope they do something else and have the badge back.

    I bought the gifting badge, now I find myself with 300 units that do not even correspond to the cost of 30 €. I would certainly not have spent € 30 to receive 300 units. If it is a temporary and brief suspension, to resolve the problem, I hope to get back the badge and not having to pay the 30 € again
  • IksdjvanIksdjvan Posts: 239 ★★
    edited March 2019
    If this is really "real world fraud" then why aren't the police involved? Does anyone have an article about someone being arrested for mining resources and the selling them? When someone commits a fraud against me as a business owner I don't immediately go to all my friends and loyal customers and say "because someone else committed fraud against me I am now shutting down every avenue of financial fraud available to and from anyone I know." The reasonable person calls the police and they get the bad guy. Or is this a case of you guys claiming that there's "real world fraud" but no one is actually committing anything close to fraud you just aren't getting the money you want due to your laziness in the creative deals department? Just curious. Anyone with an article for someone being arrested for this "real world fraud"?
  • BarleyBarley Posts: 1
    I understand they need to stop the fraud that was going on but they need to find a way to make it right with players. I don't really care about the compensation for the gifting badge being 300 or 850 units or the lost £30. I just want a way to make use of all the units I have been pointlessly saving on my now defunct second account.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 36,168 ★★★★★
    edited March 2019
    The sad part is, there's so much red tape that it's difficult for these people to follow once they realize they've been hit. By the time charges show up on their Credit Card, they have to contact the company, if they notice at all, and they come up as charges to Apple/Android. Then it becomes a chasing game. Sometimes their Credit Card company will honor them, sometimes not. By that time, the people committing Fraud have moved on to the next and the next, using different Accounts, and playing the system. We wouldn't hear about it because it then becomes an internal issue of Fraud bewteen the owner of the card, the company, and the platform.
    As for charges from Kabam for reselling their product, none as of late. Nevertheless, it's illegal. Should they choose to if they identified them, I believe they could pursue it. 100%. Not necessarily that I believe they will. They could, however. The game belongs to them. No person has the right to offer their services for money. It's illegal.
    Side note, if it was my product and people were undercutting me, I'd litigate. If it was my Credit Card and people stole from me, I would pursue it.
  • NOOOOOOOOPEEEEENOOOOOOOOPEEEEE Posts: 2,803 ★★★★★
    Players who are doing this are gonna get banned right? I mean if it's so bad that you gotta disable the gifting badge then they should br getting the perma ban too right?
This discussion has been closed.