**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.
There is currently an issue where some Alliances are are unable to find a match in Alliance Wars, or are receiving Byes without getting the benefits of the Win. We will be adjusting the Season Points of the Alliances that are affected within the coming weeks, and will be working to compensate them for their missed Per War rewards as well.

Additionally, we are working to address an issue where new Members of an Alliance are unable to place Defenders for the next War after joining. We are working to address this, but it will require a future update.

Gifting Badge Discussion [Merged Threads]

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Comments

  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,865 ★★★★★
    Maat_Man said:

    Maat_Man said:

    Maat_Man said:

    @Demonzfyre if you went to a store and wanted a new toaster but they told you the only way you could have the toaster was by buying a fridge.
    you would buy the fridge and get the free toaster.
    if they then came and took the toaster you would be angry.
    you would want a refund on the fridge cus you only ever bought it for the toaster.
    if there was no toaster you never would have bought the fridge.

    yes technically you bought the fridge.
    but you bought it under the premise of getting a toaster.
    now without the toaster you are angry and what the hell you want the fridge for.

    That's not how any of this works.
    1. I'd find a place to buy just the toaster.
    2. They couldn't take the toaster as its a material object.
    3. Try harder with analogies.

    You bought access to a service with the badge because that's what it is. They have it written in the ToS that those services can be changed at anytime. This is about something bigger than gifting and goes beyond Kabams control with fraud and stolen info.

    We won't know all the details and we can't. Its an investigation. Who knows, maybe they are being instructed to do this until actions can be taken.

    Again, the access to the badge was free. Its a virtual item, not a real item. You got what you paid for which was the units. You got an extea 300 units on top of that.

    Be mad at the criminals, not Kabam.
    lol dude the analagy works just fine.
    an no sorry u tell me as much as you want i bought the units and got a free badge,
    it aint gunna change the fact i only bough them for the badge and therefore want a refund.
    like i said they can even have the 850 units back.

    and i am mad at both.
    i am mad at the criminals for causing thtis,
    and i am mad at kabam for dealing with it the way they have.

    i understand they had to do something, but they could have done something better.

    also did you read the link to my reddit post about how they just change the TOS and do wat they want there as they see fit too.
    First off-
    If there was such a deal for a fridge and toaster, there will be terms and conditions. So if in those it says they can get the toaster any time, then nothing I can do about it. Same deal here with this situation.

    They don't make changes to the Tos whenever they want. They update when needed. If you are saying that, do you have proof with screenshots and a confession from Kabam?
    are you going to be happy bout it? NO.
    are you gunna be upset bout it? yes.
    are you gunna want proper compensation? yes.
    just because they can do something doesn't mean it is the right thing to do.
    just because their TOS allows them to do it doesn't mean we have to like it.
    just because they do it doens't mean we cant can't show them we don't like it and complain about it.
    we want them to make the best choices for us, we need to tell them what we want, and we need to tell them when we think they do something wrong

    I have screenshots that show what it was, what it is now, and the fact that they said they would tell us of changes and they never did.
    and the fact that it states last updated on 3rd Jan 2019 but it has clearly been updated since then as what it was on 26th Jan is not what it is now.
    if you read my reddit link you would see all my evidence that highlights that.
    *sigh*
    End of conversation. I hate talking to walls. Theres no use talking to conspiracy theorists as you can't see past your nose.
  • Maat_ManMaat_Man Posts: 13

    Maat_Man said:

    Maat_Man said:

    Maat_Man said:

    @Demonzfyre if you went to a store and wanted a new toaster but they told you the only way you could have the toaster was by buying a fridge.
    you would buy the fridge and get the free toaster.
    if they then came and took the toaster you would be angry.
    you would want a refund on the fridge cus you only ever bought it for the toaster.
    if there was no toaster you never would have bought the fridge.

    yes technically you bought the fridge.
    but you bought it under the premise of getting a toaster.
    now without the toaster you are angry and what the hell you want the fridge for.

    That's not how any of this works.
    1. I'd find a place to buy just the toaster.
    2. They couldn't take the toaster as its a material object.
    3. Try harder with analogies.

    You bought access to a service with the badge because that's what it is. They have it written in the ToS that those services can be changed at anytime. This is about something bigger than gifting and goes beyond Kabams control with fraud and stolen info.

    We won't know all the details and we can't. Its an investigation. Who knows, maybe they are being instructed to do this until actions can be taken.

    Again, the access to the badge was free. Its a virtual item, not a real item. You got what you paid for which was the units. You got an extea 300 units on top of that.

    Be mad at the criminals, not Kabam.
    lol dude the analagy works just fine.
    an no sorry u tell me as much as you want i bought the units and got a free badge,
    it aint gunna change the fact i only bough them for the badge and therefore want a refund.
    like i said they can even have the 850 units back.

    and i am mad at both.
    i am mad at the criminals for causing thtis,
    and i am mad at kabam for dealing with it the way they have.

    i understand they had to do something, but they could have done something better.

    also did you read the link to my reddit post about how they just change the TOS and do wat they want there as they see fit too.
    First off-
    If there was such a deal for a fridge and toaster, there will be terms and conditions. So if in those it says they can get the toaster any time, then nothing I can do about it. Same deal here with this situation.

    They don't make changes to the Tos whenever they want. They update when needed. If you are saying that, do you have proof with screenshots and a confession from Kabam?
    are you going to be happy bout it? NO.
    are you gunna be upset bout it? yes.
    are you gunna want proper compensation? yes.
    just because they can do something doesn't mean it is the right thing to do.
    just because their TOS allows them to do it doesn't mean we have to like it.
    just because they do it doens't mean we cant can't show them we don't like it and complain about it.
    we want them to make the best choices for us, we need to tell them what we want, and we need to tell them when we think they do something wrong

    I have screenshots that show what it was, what it is now, and the fact that they said they would tell us of changes and they never did.
    and the fact that it states last updated on 3rd Jan 2019 but it has clearly been updated since then as what it was on 26th Jan is not what it is now.
    if you read my reddit link you would see all my evidence that highlights that.
    *sigh*
    End of conversation. I hate talking to walls. Theres no use talking to conspiracy theorists as you can't see past your nose.
    No conspiracy.
    Clause 22 of the TOs states that they will inform us of changes. They have failed to do so. Simple as that.
    No conspiracy.
    Did you read my reddit post?
    If not you have no right to comment on it.
    If you did you will understand.

    And as for the topic at hand.
    I do not like the way kabam have handled this situation and i am entitled to say so.
  • MRMOJO77MRMOJO77 Posts: 215
    I get it kabam. Some douche wants to steal gmas credit card buy units on a fake account and sell em at a lesser price. Kudos for trying. With that said it's still not fair for the 99% of players who are legit. It's like banning ar15s but only affects non criminals. If someone wants to do something illegal they will find a way. So.. proposed solution: allow gifting within the alliance only. It would be far easier to red flag jumpers. In order for them to gift items is to join the alliance.. which means someone has to leave. Then the hacker jumps out and same person comes back in.. then u narrowed it down to 29. Who just got gifted a **** ton of items? There's your cheater.
  • There should never have been Gifting in the first place. Let each person play his own game.

    Not create 100 alternate accounts, let free Units build up in there just by logging in once a day (without playing at all in them), and then Gift a whole bunch of items to your main account from all of those others.

    And each person in alliance should be responsible for themselves, if they die in AQ-AW it is up to themselves to play enough other aspects in game to have Units enough to buy their own Revives and Heals.
  • Or if people want Gifting restored, maybe the only item allowed to be gifted could be DUEL CREDITS. Did it ever say “what” type of items would be “permanently” giftable when you “bought” the Gift Badge.
  • MyradralMyradral Posts: 154
    I want my money back please. Where do I get a refund?

    Units are not going to cut it.
  • Maat_ManMaat_Man Posts: 13

    Or if people want Gifting restored, maybe the only item allowed to be gifted could be DUEL CREDITS. Did it ever say “what” type of items would be “permanently” giftable when you “bought” the Gift Badge.

    I hate you for suggesting that idea...
    But yes you are totally right...
    It would be wrong but right at the same time...

    And as far as gifting alliance memebers potions is fair. As one member not being able to heal can affect the rewards of 29 others.
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,865 ★★★★★
    zeezee57 said:

    @GroundedWisdom and do you really know the meaning of PERMANENT

    I agree that its rented ( it is permanently rented) but when we bought that badge it says permanent gifting badge so it SHOULD STAY WITH MY ACCOUNT IN GAME till the end of the game or till my account has been closed permanently.

    Its still there. They never said removed forever. If they can find a solution to the issue, it will be back. For now, only during special events which is xmas. Lots of time to fixed the issue.
    Honest question since you seem okay with this, do you support the decision to still hold gifting events with temp badges for every one? Wouldn't that allow this sort of fraud to be conducted at a much larger scale just for a shorter duration?

    As I've said I understand the spot they're in here and that they can't allow large scale fraud to occur within their product, my questions (which I asked a few pages back and as expected will go unanswered) are about the course of action they chose to take and the fact they still intend to open gifting to every one for their incredibly profitable gifting events.
    @zeezee57 I do mainly because it won't be until Christmas. Right now, there isn't anything to be concerned about as far as events go. There is time for them to find a solution to fix the problem.
  • FrancozzoFrancozzo Posts: 5
    i think this is the real and huge problem:
    https://kromtech.com/blog/security-center/digital-laundry
  • SancakSSancakS Posts: 5
    Hi, Guys from Kabam!
    If you have problems with some individuals who are cheating it is your responsibility to catch them and sort it out. But why innocent people like me have to suffer ! First of all I didn't spend units for Gift Badge to be compensated with units I spent real money for it and I am expecting real money back or with a simple words we as a buyers have rights! And with your act you breaking the law! As a example imagine that you buy from the shop TV and the producer find out after 3 years that there is manufacture problem with it and they come in your home take the TV back and as a compensation they giving you aerial vouchers! I am personally not happy with your decision and I am not going to claim your proposed unit! Also I am very concerned about any purchases in the future and I hope that other people will support my opinion!
  • loader187loader187 Posts: 222 ★★
    it will be used to gift during gifting events and you wont be able to gift revives, health or anything that will make them not make as much money.
  • Capt_MegasauceCapt_Megasauce Posts: 138
    edited March 2019

    OMC_Pinto said:

    I would like to see Kabam comment on the factors for determining that 300 units was the ideal amount? People who have used the gifting badge after purchase prob spent more units sending items to teammates that they wouldnt have normally spent without the badge. Obviously quantifying an exact unit amount would be a large undertaking but I would have expected the number to be closer to the minimum units provided for purchasing (850 in the $29.99 package).

    It's pretty hard to decide what the value of any given thing is to everybody. Technically, the Gifting Badge had no value, as it was a free add on to a Unit Pack that contained 850 Units, but that doesn't mean that it had no value to everybody, as some may have purchased the package just for that and not the units.
    Come on Miike, do you actually believe those words you typed? Whether someone bought that unit package for the badge is irrelevant. If the badge had no value as you propose, then why not attach it to the 4.99 unit package? Better yet, why wasn't it offered for a buck? It definitely has/had value, otherwise you wouldn’t have attached it to the mid level unit package. There is a legitimate gripe by the community on the fact that they feel inadequately compensated. No game of thrones reference is going to fix that.

    Do the right thing Kabam!
  • Sparta1893Sparta1893 Posts: 14
    Do you know what is the loss of KABAM if each player sent 5K UNITS? - ZERO

    ENDGAME
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,865 ★★★★★
    SancakS said:

    Hi, Guys from Kabam!
    If you have problems with some individuals who are cheating it is your responsibility to catch them and sort it out. But why innocent people like me have to suffer ! First of all I didn't spend units for Gift Badge to be compensated with units I spent real money for it and I am expecting real money back or with a simple words we as a buyers have rights! And with your act you breaking the law! As a example imagine that you buy from the shop TV and the producer find out after 3 years that there is manufacture problem with it and they come in your home take the TV back and as a compensation they giving you aerial vouchers! I am personally not happy with your decision and I am not going to claim your proposed unit! Also I am very concerned about any purchases in the future and I hope that other people will support my opinion!

    First off you need to slow your roll and know the facts. What they are dealing with is something that effects Kabam indirectly as it's fraudulent purchases being made and those are through the Apple Store and Google Play so its more likely that those entities brought this to Kabams attention and asked for a stop gap measure.
    The 300 units is for compensation and you got your $29.99 worth of units when you bought the package.

    Kabam is protected by their ToS in this instance so no, they aren't breaking the law. If you are going to throw those accusations around, know the law before quoting the law.
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,865 ★★★★★
    zeezee57 said:

    zeezee57 said:

    @GroundedWisdom and do you really know the meaning of PERMANENT

    I agree that its rented ( it is permanently rented) but when we bought that badge it says permanent gifting badge so it SHOULD STAY WITH MY ACCOUNT IN GAME till the end of the game or till my account has been closed permanently.

    Its still there. They never said removed forever. If they can find a solution to the issue, it will be back. For now, only during special events which is xmas. Lots of time to fixed the issue.
    Honest question since you seem okay with this, do you support the decision to still hold gifting events with temp badges for every one? Wouldn't that allow this sort of fraud to be conducted at a much larger scale just for a shorter duration?

    As I've said I understand the spot they're in here and that they can't allow large scale fraud to occur within their product, my questions (which I asked a few pages back and as expected will go unanswered) are about the course of action they chose to take and the fact they still intend to open gifting to every one for their incredibly profitable gifting events.
    @zeezee57 I do mainly because it won't be until Christmas. Right now, there isn't anything to be concerned about as far as events go. There is time for them to find a solution to fix the problem.
    But if that were the case wouldn't the permanent badge be restored already and no need to have special circumstances to hold the event? If gifting is being removed, whether temporarily or permanently, there should be no distinction between the permanent badge that was paid for and a temporary badge. Either gifting can be exploited to a degree that it has to be shut down in both instances or safeguards have been put in place where both forms of gifting are viable. Under the circumstances put in front of us you can't have one and not the other, it just doesn't work.
    That's my point in all of this. We only know what is happening right now. There might be a solution tomorrow that fixes all of this and back to business as normal. The community is jumping off the cliff as they always do when a change happens then Kabam usually fixes the issue and we go back to normal. We can't see into the future anymore than the company can. Looking at this from a non-biased standpoint, we should let them do what they need to do as a company and give them some more time.
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,865 ★★★★★
    zeezee57 said:

    @Demonzfyre

    My other point of contention is this, with the gifting badges removed from the store already, thus eliminating the means for banned accounts to then create new accounts, is there no way the already purchased badges could've been salvaged while still rooting out the problem? Once an account is banned for this disgusting activity there's no way they could acquire a new badge. Admittedly this solution would take a little longer to fully eliminate the problem and would require a bit more work on Kabam's end, which i know isn't how they operate, but in the interest of customer satisfaction and doing right by the people who purchased a badge and used it appropriately wouldn't this course of action seem better suited to resolve the problem?

    Again I agree that something has to be done to keep any form of credit card fraud out of MCOC, this just seems to fall in line with all the other issues where Kabam seems to do the bare minimum with regard to accommodating their customers and their poor handling of situations that clearly matter to the community.

    Well we really don't know the extent to what exactly is being effected. What we know is that gifting was being abused through the use of stolen information. We don't know the exact methods or means and they wont tell us and they shouldn't. I've had the gifting badge since the very first time it was offered. I honestly don't know when the last time it was offered up as part of a unit package.

    To me, they are doing this at the behest of Google and Apple while they figure out a way to handle this through the justice system. It seems like the "bare minimum" because we can't see behind the scenes. Keep in mind, the community over reacts on just about every issue regardless of how big or small. Most of the failed expectations come from people who don't know what they are talking about (not saying that's you, you're normally level headed) and react without thinking.

    Personally, I'd rather give it some time before making any other assumptions. Kabam isn't perfect, I wasn't happy about 12.0, I tend to agree they do more and more to get people to spend and I spend a lot but I also think a lot of this frustration is misplaced and to early.
  • AmonthirAmonthir Posts: 754 ★★★
    As long as they actually return the ability to gift once they and the various Stores have figured out the issue, it'll be alright with me. If it's permanently gone (except for what? Twice yearly? gifting events), then that quite sucks, as I had a sub account with the badge that I was going to use to fuel Act 6/Variant 2.0 exploration on my main.
  • DshuDshu Posts: 1,503 ★★★★
    So the temporary badge will be reinstated for gifting events? Does that mean there is no chance of fraud during these events or does the revenue kabam makes off these events outway the concern for fraud during these time periods? Just curious why this giant recall now when there was an instance of fraud in the past that just lead to a 1 month ban on a few high spending accounts? Yes credit card fraud is a huge problem and steps need to be taken to prevent it but does removing the gifting badge from all accounts except for when kabam needs a boost in revenue really prevent this? If you are removing the gifting badge to prevent fraud it should be permanently disabled not just active when you are trying to hit your sales goals. Not asking for feedback from the forum on this but I'd enjoy a response from kabam.
  • OnmixOnmix Posts: 508 ★★★
    I apologize if this has already been addressed. I read about 6-7 pages and nothing popped up with search.

    When they return the gifting badge (if they do it) will we have to pay $30 USD again or will it be given to us for free?

    Another way of asking it is. Are the 300 units supposed to compensate the temporary removal of the gifting badge (for the inconvenience) or is the removal permanent and when they allow it back will we have to pay again ?

    Anybody know ?
  • FendyFendy Posts: 4

    Kabam Mike is the same person that old us that 30 minute timers hurts summoners more then it helps them... I will never listen to anything he has to say because his logic is from another planet

    Agreed
  • KpatrixKpatrix Posts: 1,055 ★★★

    Iksdjvan said:

    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"?

    I would hope as a business owner that you would do more to protect your customers than just call the police. This isn't an episode of Law & Order crimes aren't solved overnight in the real world law enforcement investigations take weeks, months, even years and sometimes the bad guy doesn't get caught. In the mean time you are leaving your customers exposed to other bad actors because you feel all you needed to do was call the police.

    But since you asked here is an article describing how fraud in mobile games is a multi billion dollar industry

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjSmba_0Z_hAhVIyYMKHUqZCkQQzPwBegQIARAD&url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/20/virtual-goods-real-fraud/&psig=AOvVaw12kffBeQJfRzpYU1bV_zcA&ust=1553683846598487
    I understand the frustration everyone is feeling, but come on, this isn’t some bull **** kabam is making up, it’s a real problem and it’s definitely affecting lots of innocent people as well as Kabams bottom line.

    The company I work for gives us bonuses based on income we generate. Let’s say we generated a million in last month, 2 weeks in this month we get our bonus. After paying us that, the accountants find that 50% of the income we received was charged back, so instead of the million, we end up with $500k. Now the company is out of money as it can’t take back out bonuses, as well as lost revenue that was needed for profit and overhead. It wouldn’t take long for the company to go under in a case like this.

    We got back some extra units, kabam took action to prevent fraud that had real world implications on itself and others, and everyone is up in arms about it. It sucks that we can’t use our gifting badges anymore, but it’s an easy trade off to stop widespread fraud and the damage that causes. We may even see price drops since they won’t have to jack up prices as a way to offset losses by fraud, who knows.

    They know how much those gifting badges meant for the legit players, and we can expect them to come up with a solution, just not overnight. They can’t rush it and end up having to repeat the suspension again.
This discussion has been closed.