Hello. I'm working on a lengthy Banquet post-mortem for all of you, but I'm just going to go ahead and try to head this one off at the pass now.
The reason the Banquet crystal was unbalanced was 100% on me. Our Live Ops team produced a perfectly balanced tuning for the crystal in which this wouldn't have been a problem. In reviewing it, I counted all T6B/T3A drops as filler, and in an effort to reduce the amount of filler I moved some of those drops to other resources. For most players this wasn't a problem. I personally put up around 100,000 points and finished ~1500th, and for me the imbalance wasn't perceptible.
However in monitoring the event over the break, we realized players at the top were going to put up more points than we expected, and for them it was going to become a real problem. So we did something quick and dirty to help them correct the imbalance. If I could go back in time to before the event I would have thought of something else, but I'm pretty sure players wouldn't have liked the Banquet event more if it had included more T6B/T3A in the crystals.
I personally don't see this as a fairness problem, as I can tell you the difference between my account and these accounts has nothing to do with T6B/T3A. And I don't see it as these players getting to buy T6B/T3A for 10 Units, I see them as getting to buy T6B/T3A for 750,000 Units + 10 Units, which is what somebody had to spend to unlock this offer.
To offer some constructive feedback, it seems you view this as a corrective action that balanced the Crystal as more basics should have become available as RNG. And this was a knee jerk reaction to keep the highest spenders happy.
But then why not make this available to all? I don’t feel that was adequately considered. If making this deal available to these extreme spenders doesn’t widen the gap then being inclusive wouldn’t either.
Good luck on the rationalization post. I can only say that this “grand banquet” was a grand let down.
Honestly, instead of a lengthy post mortem, they should just say “thanks to everyone participating, looking forward to 2025” - the messaging is incoherent and infuriating … which matches these random actions during and after the event. Kabam needs to quit digging; not add new and improved shovels.
People are complaining about an equality issue but in all honesty, I’m not personally concerned I don’t get those deals when I only spent £40 which is hardly enough to keep the game alive.
Except the offer wasn't for money - it was for units. There was an exclusive offer provided to SOME players and it appears the offer was tied to the banquet. It was a limited time offer and had a limited quantity. The offer was aimed at correcting the issue that the crystals themselves exacerbated. The offer was for in-game resources. Anyone and everyone could have benefitted from this offer.
Equality vs Equity - I don't think anyone expects people to be treated the same, that's equality and that's never going to exist in a for-profit game. There will be a gap created by big spenders - but that's them gaining the additional resources they bought.
That is the part everyone is just glossing over. We all had the opportunity to buy these crystals. That's absolutely fine.
What we didn't all have, is the opportunity to buy this insane Alpha Catalyst bundle and that is the lack of equity.
Making a limited offer like this available to all was going to realistically result in maybe a handful more R2s and maybe an extra couple R3s for some. Minimal impact.
The class catalysts would have limited the rest of us and Kabam coulda hand a small W on their hands as this would not have helped us keep pace with the largest spenders but it would have shown fair treatment across the board in an effort to rebalance the SBCs pay outs.
But the bottle neck of not being able to use resources justifies the rubbish that us mere mortals received who couldn’t open whale amounts of crystals. They knew the situation they would be in opening all those crystals. That’s the tradeoff you have when you’re hunting for R4’s.
This is essentially a retrospective buff to the crystals that you’ve added elsewhere in the game, called it something else, but only the super rich can get access to. I’m glad it looks like a success from a spending perspective, I want the game to continue. But as a whole the event was a massive let down and really depressing when thinking about from a low spending/FTP perspective.
Making a limited offer like this available to all was going to realistically result in maybe a handful more R2s and maybe an extra couple R3s for some. Minimal impact.
The class catalysts would have limited the rest of us and Kabam coulda hand a small W on their hands as this would not have helped us keep pace with the largest spenders but it would have shown fair treatment across the board in an effort to rebalance the SBCs pay outs.
In previous years when it was the gifting event, COWHALE (when he was a thing), would save gifting crystals and open throughout the year when needed so items didn’t go into overflow and then become wasted. The event is now set up to open every crystal now now now. If that means items can’t be used and become wasted, that’s on the players who choose to open them and kabam for designing it that way in the first place. It shouldn’t have been added after the fact because it was poorly designed to benefit only a super small percentage of players. The crystals were rubbish because they didn’t wanted to limit the gap event creates, but then we have this set events which widens it even further.
. And I don't see it as these players getting to buy T6B/T3A for 10 Units, I see them as getting to buy T6B/T3A for 750,000 Units + 10 Units, which is what somebody had to spend to unlock this offer.
And here is further confirmation of the very evident, huge gap which was supposedly not an issue… thanks Kabam 👍😤
The reason the Banquet crystal was unbalanced was 100% on me.
So if this is a confirmation that the SBC’s were “unbalanced”, what does Kabam propose to do retrospectively in order to address this, in terms of the units which we NON-MEGA-WHALES spent on purchasing “unbalanced” and therefore flawed SBC’s? Not to compound the fact that the drop rates & item totals were just very poor… to offer mega-whales a fully formed T6C and T3A for 10 units is a complete slap in the face to the rest of us.
Even if I purchased just 1 measly, lonely SBC, it would have been done under the fact that it’s an unbalanced crystal, yet I’m not deemed worthy enough to extend this offer to… and there is part of the overall problem 😤
The reason the Banquet crystal was unbalanced was 100% on me.
So if this is a confirmation that the SBC’s were “unbalanced”, what does Kabam propose to do retrospectively in order to address this, in terms of the units which we NON-MEGA-WHALES spent on purchasing “unbalanced” and therefore flawed SBC’s? Not to compound the fact that the drop rates & item totals were just very poor… to offer mega-whales a fully formed T6C and T3A for 10 units is a complete slap in the face to the rest of us.
Even if I purchased just 1 measly, lonely SBC, it would have been done under the fact that it’s an unbalanced crystal, yet I’m not deemed worthy enough to extend this offer to… and there is part of the overall problem 😤
1000% agree. I only wish people had listened when I said boycott at the beginning of the event. So instead of addressing the issue to the whole community they decided let’s cater to the whales even more. Wallets and reviews is how you send a message to kabam. 12.0 boycott though short lived once community was appeased in some way was the last time kabam did something about a problem.
The reason the Banquet crystal was unbalanced was 100% on me.
So if this is a confirmation that the SBC’s were “unbalanced”, what does Kabam propose to do retrospectively in order to address this, in terms of the units which we NON-MEGA-WHALES spent on purchasing “unbalanced” and therefore flawed SBC’s? Not to compound the fact that the drop rates & item totals were just very poor… to offer mega-whales a fully formed T6C and T3A for 10 units is a complete slap in the face to the rest of us.
Even if I purchased just 1 measly, lonely SBC, it would have been done under the fact that it’s an unbalanced crystal, yet I’m not deemed worthy enough to extend this offer to… and there is part of the overall problem 😤
1000% agree. I only wish people had listened when I said boycott at the beginning of the event. So instead of addressing the issue to the whole community they decided let’s cater to the whales even more. Wallets and reviews is how you send a message to kabam. 12.0 boycott though short lived once community was appeased in some way was the last time kabam did something about a problem.
Even if people did sbcs wasnt able to be changed the event wouldnt of changed
I personally don't see this as a fairness problem, as I can tell you the difference between my account and these accounts has nothing to do with T6B/T3A. And I don't see it as these players getting to buy T6B/T3A for 10 Units, I see them as getting to buy T6B/T3A for 750,000 Units + 10 Units, which is what somebody had to spend to unlock this offer.
Unless I am missing something, I did not see any comms from Kabam pre-event stating that, if you spend 750k units +, you will gain access to this particular offer. Am I wrong? What one person views from their perspective doesn’t necessarily conform with the views of many. This is entirely a “fairness problem” because it appears that this offer has been retrospectively positioned for the mega-whales on the back of an unbalanced crystal. To withhold this offer from the entire player-base, or to those who purchased crystals (even just 1) is entirely wrong, and therefore unfair. I’m sorry Kabam Crashed but I have to disagree with your feedback in this regard. And I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels this way.
Making a limited offer like this available to all was going to realistically result in maybe a handful more R2s and maybe an extra couple R3s for some. Minimal impact.
The class catalysts would have limited the rest of us and Kabam coulda hand a small W on their hands as this would not have helped us keep pace with the largest spenders but it would have shown fair treatment across the board in an effort to rebalance the SBCs pay outs.
In previous years when it was the gifting event, COWHALE (when he was a thing), would save gifting crystals and open throughout the year when needed so items didn’t go into overflow and then become wasted. The event is now set up to open every crystal now now now. If that means items can’t be used and become wasted, that’s on the players who choose to open them and kabam for designing it that way in the first place. It shouldn’t have been added after the fact because it was poorly designed to benefit only a super small percentage of players. The crystals were rubbish because they didn’t wanted to limit the gap event creates, but then we have this set events which widens it even further.
I completely agree with your take. I’m just offering up a solution to the current reality where this deal was already offered up to the 0.01% club.
First, I think the offer for ten units is best thought of as another kind of bonus reward. If it was presented as, “when you hit 1M points in the event, you receive a milestone coupon that will allow you to buy catalysts at a reduced rate”, I don’t think it would be triggering the community as much. This kind of thing is essentially a shadow loyalty program. They have to take care of their most valuable individual customers, just like any other service business (airlines, hotels, credit card companies, whatever).
Second, I think this episode is just further evidence that banquet is structurally broken as an event. Three types of crystals (only one of which is seen as relevant by the majority of players), more progression levels than ever before (with valiant and paragon representing a huge spread from small to massive accounts) — and the event is all managed through two common rank reward structures. It’s just too stretched across a complex set of stakeholders and variables. “Everybody open a bunch of crystals” as the central action of a major event just may not work anymore. Time for a new idea for the end of year blowout event, Kabam.
Hello. I'm working on a lengthy Banquet post-mortem for all of you, but I'm just going to go ahead and try to head this one off at the pass now.
The reason the Banquet crystal was unbalanced was 100% on me. Our Live Ops team produced a perfectly balanced tuning for the crystal in which this wouldn't have been a problem. In reviewing it, I counted all T6B/T3A drops as filler, and in an effort to reduce the amount of filler I moved some of those drops to other resources. For most players this wasn't a problem. I personally put up around 100,000 points and finished ~1500th, and for me the imbalance wasn't perceptible.
However in monitoring the event over the break, we realized players at the top were going to put up more points than we expected, and for them it was going to become a real problem. So we did something quick and dirty to help them correct the imbalance. If I could go back in time to before the event I would have thought of something else, but I'm pretty sure players wouldn't have liked the Banquet event more if it had included more T6B/T3A in the crystals.
I personally don't see this as a fairness problem, as I can tell you the difference between my account and these accounts has nothing to do with T6B/T3A. And I don't see it as these players getting to buy T6B/T3A for 10 Units, I see them as getting to buy T6B/T3A for 750,000 Units + 10 Units, which is what somebody had to spend to unlock this offer.
I have opened more than 150 crystal but got nothing special just t6 basic fragments t3 alpha and some t4 alphas I am very disappointed as I Saw some people getting good rewards but it was all waste unfortunately.
First, I think the offer for ten units is best thought of as another kind of bonus reward. If it was presented as, “when you hit 1M points in the event, you receive a milestone coupon that will allow you to buy catalysts at a reduced rate”, I don’t think it would be triggering the community as much. This kind of thing is essentially a shadow loyalty program. They have to take care of their most valuable individual customers, just like any other service business (airlines, hotels, credit card companies, whatever).
Second, I think this episode is just further evidence that banquet is structurally broken as an event. Three types of crystals (only one of which is seen as relevant by the majority of players), more progression levels than ever before (with valiant and paragon representing a huge spread from small to massive accounts) — and the event is all managed through two common rank reward structures. It’s just too stretched across a complex set of stakeholders and variables. “Everybody open a bunch of crystals” as the central action of a major event just may not work anymore. Time for a new idea for the end of year blowout event, Kabam.
First, I think the offer for ten units is best thought of as another kind of bonus reward. If it was presented as, “when you hit 1M points in the event, you receive a milestone coupon that will allow you to buy catalysts at a reduced rate”, I don’t think it would be triggering the community as much. This kind of thing is essentially a shadow loyalty program. They have to take care of their most valuable individual customers, just like any other service business (airlines, hotels, credit card companies, whatever).
Second, I think this episode is just further evidence that banquet is structurally broken as an event. Three types of crystals (only one of which is seen as relevant by the majority of players), more progression levels than ever before (with valiant and paragon representing a huge spread from small to massive accounts) — and the event is all managed through two common rank reward structures. It’s just too stretched across a complex set of stakeholders and variables. “Everybody open a bunch of crystals” as the central action of a major event just may not work anymore. Time for a new idea for the end of year blowout event, Kabam.
This doesn’t feel like a loyalty program, fully transparent or shadow. To me it feels like a knee-jerk reaction to appease the mega-whales who are sitting with tons of rank up materials in overflow, and unable to use said materials before they expire. That is all it is, as far as I am concerned.
To think that a player like me, who spent 27k units on those “unbalanced” crystals (a drop in the ocean compared to what we’ve seen being spent but still a sizeable amount) would have to pay neigh on 1000 (1k) units to buy the fragments required to form 1 of each T6C and T3A… when these guys are able to do that very same thing for 10 units! This is shambolic imo 🤯
I’m not saying it’s well-executed, necessarily. But the logic is loyalty — take care of your biggest spenders. There are often ad-hoc, in the moment features thrown into loyalty programs. I used to travel a lot for work. One of my colleagues was a global services member on united cause he spent (our company spent) hundreds of thousands a year on his travel. Dude had a hotline he could call, he got all kinds of perks that are not written down anywhere publicly viewable. Just the way it is.
I think Kabam’s bigger problem is this subset of the community. While we (active forum bros, senior-ish valiants, quickly rising TBs and paragons, etc) may not spend as much as their highest monetary value customers, we are still a valuable audience. We play a lot, we care a lot, and sometimes some of us spend meaningful amounts. It’s not an ideal situation when your one of you most highly engaged audiences is highly frustrated. Doesn’t mean that Kabam is going to fail or the game will die, but if a company is thinking not only about short-term $$ goals but also long-term “what could be better, how do we reinvent ourselves for ten more years”, it’s great to have your engaged customers acting as champions for your product rather than being in an endless state of frustration and annoyance.
It is a silly thing to justify an offer that is affordable to everyone being available only to the wealthiest in the game by saying they deserve it for displaying their wealth. Over the years, Kabam has done a wonderful job of making sure that all players have equal access to all things. Of course, money is an obstacle that limits most from taking advantage of those, but that doesn't change access. And there's no reason for anyone to take a dump on those who choose to spend, because that allows everyone else to spend less or nothing. And spending absolutely should be rewarded. But adding what can legitimately be a game breaking offer and further widening the gap you made the crystals worse to avoid is just silly.
kabam stated the crystals were unbalanced. Compensation was offered to a certain percentage if the player base based on the fact the crystals were not not as intended. How about the others that also purchased the same item? It was just as faulty as the ones purchased by the compensated group.
Many Banquets/Gifting events happened, many times people ended with crazy overflows, and this particular one gets a "Fix" for whales. I think its clear enough that the intention and designed of this 1 partocular event was WRONG. From the start to finish everything about it was WRONG. I have been pretty active about my discontent with this event, some people say number 1 spent around 150k.. 180k... Big gap between 1 and 2... So lets get crazy and say whales spent 5 million, Read DNA's prediction of 170k from #1 and also a number of 23+ million on the whole event. Why do I write this whole mumbo jumbo of numbers myself? Simple, kabam just pissed off people who gave them 18ish+ million.
I’m glad the 10ish mega whales were able to fully rank 3 every single 7 star in the game in addition to having 3-5 rank 4 7 stars with that special offer. It keeps the gap from getting too far. So glad the crystals were rebalanced for them but not for anybody else. Healthy and fair for the game. Keeps the gap from getting too wide.
kabam stated the crystals were unbalanced. Compensation was offered to a certain percentage if the player base based on the fact the crystals were not not as intended. How about the others that also purchased the same item? It was just as faulty as the ones purchased by the compensated group.
i'm never gonna be made at the MEGALODONS or Whales in the game. good on them ... they deserve all the resources and rank ups. I'm ok with having what I have and what few bucks I've spent can deliver. My skill is often greater than these Megalodons and Whales when face to face so it's a proper laugh and sense of sticking it to them that I enjoy when these opportunities present themselves lol
Offer them for 50 units to other players. Smaller player might have a few tier4aplha in overflow so why not help them also. We also spent money so a little help would go along way to make things right
I don't believe people want compensation in the form of free things, at least I don't. I don't want anything for free. I want the ability to buy 32 T6B and T3A for 320 units.
You can ignore it. It was intended as a joke. Surely not directed towards the raging spenders.
Why does the gap between top spenders and FTP bother most of you people so much?
The people in the top 100 spent THOUSANDS if not TENS OF THOUSANDS on this event. Most of us (me included) can’t even fathom spending 10k+ on a mobile video game. The fact some think you should be even remotely close to these top spenders is delusional.
why should the idiots who bought tons of SBC get a special offer? they knew buying 100,00's of crystal would cause this issue for them .. there should be some downside to just buying rank 4 champions , but instead you give the reward of having every 7 star in the game at rank 3 , why in the hell are we even clearing content anymore ???? this game is just became a complete digital Funko Pop collecting game . we always new credit card out performed skill , but this banquet and special whale offer has just made the game a complete joke. Last year people were able to earn at least 1 rank 3 from necro , and yes some whales had 3 or 4 , but at least us poor common ignored and unappreciated peasants could at least EARN a R3 . This year you have people with 5 R4 and NO WAY for us peasants to even remotely come close to 1. So clearly we are back to the credit card skill system completely. And kabam John saying he messed up the drop rates is useless , i do not care that you screwed up , i care about exactly how you plan to fix it and make it right for us unwanted peasants !
Why does the gap between top spenders and FTP bother most of you people so much?
The people in the top 100 spent THOUSANDS if not TENS OF THOUSANDS on this event. Most of us (me included) can’t even fathom spending 10k+ on a mobile video game. The fact some think you should be even remotely close to these top spenders is delusional.
Because they literally said the crystals were designed to not create a huge gap between big spenders and not, and now there is a side market to reward the big spenders.
Why does the gap between top spenders and FTP bother most of you people so much?
The people in the top 100 spent THOUSANDS if not TENS OF THOUSANDS on this event. Most of us (me included) can’t even fathom spending 10k+ on a mobile video game. The fact some think you should be even remotely close to these top spenders is delusional.
Because they use that as an excuse to give everyone crappy crystals
Why does the gap between top spenders and FTP bother most of you people so much?
The people in the top 100 spent THOUSANDS if not TENS OF THOUSANDS on this event. Most of us (me included) can’t even fathom spending 10k+ on a mobile video game. The fact some think you should be even remotely close to these top spenders is delusional.
Said nobody… way to frame things in the worst possible light so you might appear to be reasonable.
Comments
I don't want anything for free. I want the ability to buy 32 T6B and T3A for 320 units. Except the offer wasn't for money - it was for units. There was an exclusive offer provided to SOME players and it appears the offer was tied to the banquet. It was a limited time offer and had a limited quantity. The offer was aimed at correcting the issue that the crystals themselves exacerbated. The offer was for in-game resources. Anyone and everyone could have benefitted from this offer.
Equality vs Equity - I don't think anyone expects people to be treated the same, that's equality and that's never going to exist in a for-profit game. There will be a gap created by big spenders - but that's them gaining the additional resources they bought.
That is the part everyone is just glossing over. We all had the opportunity to buy these crystals. That's absolutely fine.
What we didn't all have, is the opportunity to buy this insane Alpha Catalyst bundle and that is the lack of equity.
The class catalysts would have limited the rest of us and Kabam coulda hand a small W on their hands as this would not have helped us keep pace with the largest spenders but it would have shown fair treatment across the board in an effort to rebalance the SBCs pay outs.
This is essentially a retrospective buff to the crystals that you’ve added elsewhere in the game, called it something else, but only the super rich can get access to. I’m glad it looks like a success from a spending perspective, I want the game to continue. But as a whole the event was a massive let down and really depressing when thinking about from a low spending/FTP perspective.
Even if I purchased just 1 measly, lonely SBC, it would have been done under the fact that it’s an unbalanced crystal, yet I’m not deemed worthy enough to extend this offer to… and there is part of the overall problem 😤
First, I think the offer for ten units is best thought of as another kind of bonus reward. If it was presented as, “when you hit 1M points in the event, you receive a milestone coupon that will allow you to buy catalysts at a reduced rate”, I don’t think it would be triggering the community as much. This kind of thing is essentially a shadow loyalty program. They have to take care of their most valuable individual customers, just like any other service business (airlines, hotels, credit card companies, whatever).
Second, I think this episode is just further evidence that banquet is structurally broken as an event. Three types of crystals (only one of which is seen as relevant by the majority of players), more progression levels than ever before (with valiant and paragon representing a huge spread from small to massive accounts) — and the event is all managed through two common rank reward structures. It’s just too stretched across a complex set of stakeholders and variables. “Everybody open a bunch of crystals” as the central action of a major event just may not work anymore. Time for a new idea for the end of year blowout event, Kabam.
To think that a player like me, who spent 27k units on those “unbalanced” crystals (a drop in the ocean compared to what we’ve seen being spent but still a sizeable amount) would have to pay neigh on 1000 (1k) units to buy the fragments required to form 1 of each T6C and T3A… when these guys are able to do that very same thing for 10 units! This is shambolic imo 🤯
I think Kabam’s bigger problem is this subset of the community. While we (active forum bros, senior-ish valiants, quickly rising TBs and paragons, etc) may not spend as much as their highest monetary value customers, we are still a valuable audience. We play a lot, we care a lot, and sometimes some of us spend meaningful amounts. It’s not an ideal situation when your one of you most highly engaged audiences is highly frustrated. Doesn’t mean that Kabam is going to fail or the game will die, but if a company is thinking not only about short-term $$ goals but also long-term “what could be better, how do we reinvent ourselves for ten more years”, it’s great to have your engaged customers acting as champions for your product rather than being in an endless state of frustration and annoyance.
I have been pretty active about my discontent with this event, some people say number 1 spent around 150k.. 180k... Big gap between 1 and 2... So lets get crazy and say whales spent 5 million, Read DNA's prediction of 170k from #1 and also a number of 23+ million on the whole event. Why do I write this whole mumbo jumbo of numbers myself? Simple, kabam just pissed off people who gave them 18ish+ million.
Because i got a ton of T6B and T3A fragments, for 300 units, over and over again, thanks to SBC.
Surely not directed towards the raging spenders.
The people in the top 100 spent THOUSANDS if not TENS OF THOUSANDS on this event. Most of us (me included) can’t even fathom spending 10k+ on a mobile video game. The fact some think you should be even remotely close to these top spenders is delusional.