7* compensation decision was wrong and here is an evidence.

First of all I would like to specify that I am not against the compensation at all and affected users should have been compensated. I am also not against KT1 whose video I will use for reference. My concern is about the format of the compensation, about the decision Kabam has made. Nobody to blaim except Kabam.

Here is the link to KT1 opening of compensation for 7* crystal problem

https://youtu.be/rIEi0WPQn7E?si=L8S2yes3I04MztgC.

It is a good example of what is vrong with compensation if you just notice what he puts in the focus.
At first I really appreciate that in the beginning he said that current compensation format is wrong and there could be better solution which was many times suggested on forums.
At second, let me summarize main points of this video:
- Crystals to open: 48 from compensation + 1 was already saved.
- Initial titan shards on the account: 14688
- New champions gained that were in previous pool: Hood.
- Dupes on significant champions which were in previous pool: Prowler x2, Knull X3, Shocker x1, Titania x1, Enchantress x2, Havok x1, Bullseye x1, Spiral x1. I do not count champions which are mid-level in my opinion. But just from this set - all of these champions like dupes and these dupes are equivalent of 240 sig stones (more than 2 odins during cyber monday).
- New champions from newly added to the pool: Dr Vodoo.
- Dupes on newly added champions to the pool: Omega Red x1, Mole Man x1, Mr Sinister x1, Isophyne x1, Cap Marvel x1, Anti Venom x1. (I hope I did not miss somebody).
- Total pulled champions from newly added: 7 from 49 crystals. So, only 7 crystals are effective and 42 crystals are literally a free addition to prestige or some champions force.
- Titan shards after pulling: 44688. Effectively +30k titan shards. Note that with his initial opening he also got 30k titan shards. So, he got 3 titan crystals from dupes while others got just 1,5.
- Overall reaction: KT1 mainly talks about how nice that he got these 60 sig levels on Knull and 40 sig levels on Prowler. He almost saying nothing about newly added champions, except mentions that he wanted Black Panther.

I also wanted to analyze Vega's video, but it required sponsorship and now it is disappeared. I do not know what was in this video, but guess it could be in similar format.

To sum up, my thoughts are:
- Compensation is unfair. It would be better to give people 10 nexus selectors between newly added champions and it would be a lot better and nobody would complain. Current compensation fair just for ~14% (7 out of 49 crystals pulled newly added champion). All other is a very crazy and very good stuff for "lucky person at lucky time".
- It is not KT1's fault or somebody else's fault how they react to that. Everybody who receives compensation and protects it on forums like "it is fair since we also need chance to pull new champions" - they are right and wrong at the same time. They deserve this chance. But they deserve it in fair way to other players as well! But, I cannot blame them. I would react exactly the same. I would think exactly the same like "ookay, I will ramp up my prestige for free, I will get more titan shards". I would care about new champions just a little.
- It is only Kabam's fault of their bad decision how to make this compensation.

Comments

Chuck_Finley

it’s just intellectually dishonest to claim this comp is inconsequential. And to be clear - KABAM never said that. Only the apologist white knights have made that claim.

all Kabam put out was essentially “we made a decision, got feedback from the forums, and were unmoved”

I think there is only two conclusions we can draw: the game team is completely incapable of calculating the impact of items in the game economy (not likely). Or the game team found the solution that was easiest for them to get the check box checked on correcting crystals and took the lazy way out (most likely).

BadAsh22

Amayra

I think now days kabam deal us differently according to countries

Bucus they give her country members gud compensation rewards

But indian members r not recieved rewards including me

scott269

Vega got on immediately during the bug and told the viewers not to open crystals because they were bugged. He then proceeded to open all of his despite knowing they were bugged. Then when the 1:1 compensation notice was released, he acted all surprised and ended his boycott. I'm sure someone told him to get that video down.

O_Deadpool_O

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906162#Comment_2906162

Yeah, Kabam definitely bought Vega with this compensation. I noticed the same. Soon after the compensation details revealed he made a video that everything is fine, he finishes his spending boycott and also said that compensation is OK.

The man who sold his logic and principles for a bunch of 7* crystals :). I have already unsubscribed from him.

BadAsh22

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906163#Comment_2906163

Yeah he has no spine. But good for drinking games.

For instance, watch one of his videos and take a shot every time you hear "illuminati"

I dare you 😏

O_Deadpool_O

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906164#Comment_2906164

LOL. Or take a shot each time he says "phenomenal" for a champion who will disappear from the decks shortly after adding to the pool :).

I stopped beleiving his champions overview videos and his champions rankings after BRB and Dazzler.
How many times he said they are phenomenal and fantastic? How many people are using these champions now? BRB died right after launch. Dazzler died right after Yelena.
The best ranking for champion is just to watch Beroman's or Cantona's or other top-level BG players streams.

HarleyQnn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/408172/7-compensation-decision-was-wrong-and-here-is-an-evidence

You are right, many people react to the compensation exactly the same. A little about new champions and a lot about prestige, sig levels, titan shards.

I wonder… champions from compensation will not work for retroactive rewards system. But what about champions from titan which were bought on titan shards from dupes from these crystals?
What about dupes on the same champions later? For example, now he got +60 sigs on Knull, so if he puts 100 sig stones into, next dupes will already provide max sig level crystal? Or will they not provide it until he get 3 dupes on max sig level?
What is the impact on game rewards from this perspective?

scott269

Vega just posted the video again, if you want to analyze it now

TotemCorruption

What's crazy is that you have all these youtubers doing huge compensation crystal openings, which is like the first time I recall that there was a "big opening event" where basically only a select few were allowed to participate in. No deals for other people to buy, no content for them to complete, basically no way for the unlucky players to participate themselves while the lucky players get to have a huge free early Christmas.

And let's not point the finger at Vega or KT1 or anyone else, this is Kabam's fault, not theirs.

(Also, KT1 said on stream that he only has $100 in his bank account, so definitely that should be a reminder that people who are rich in MCOC assets and in "whale" alliances can be very very broke in real life)…)

Gamer

i gav one one this compensating thing I had a ide was that’s from 1 to 10 crystal giv them 1 selection between all the new champions that’s wasn’t there’s and if one had open 20 giv them 2 of them yes maybe not totally fair but at least not this big one

IconofSin

They should have been rolled back and there would have been no issues. Instead we were punished for waiting for a fix while they get double. There is nothing fair or balanced about that. Was aware of the issue quickly as no one was getting new champs but I chose to wait for fix. Guess I was stupid then to not get 100% free I had 15 saved for the new pool (only got 1 of them ultimately). Guess will just open everything straight away now

pseudosane

Lets not get into personal attacks everyone. We can have disagreements but this isnt a place for conspiracy theories.

The_Curd_Bros

This is so unfortunate. All the goodwill following Summonersfest…the hard work @Kabam (Osaurus) Rex , @Kabam Crashed , etc. put in. Ugh. I feel for them.

I’m sure legal considerations required that they compensate those that opened (in honesty it was just a bug…but from a legal standpoint I can see how it could be argued…that is totally understandable.)

The “issue” lies in just how unfair the compensation became. The “lucky ones” like KTI, Vega, etc (and the dozens of screenshots I’ve seen) we given literally thousands of dollars in materials (based on the economy prior to compensation) …while people like me (who noticed about 5 crystals in that it was bugged and did what I thought at the time was the “right” / responsible thing and waited, let them know, etc.) lost out on over 1000 sig stones, 30,000 titan shards, etc.

My being responsible cost me quite a bit… and makes me less competitive against those that (knowingly or unknowingly) took advantage of the bug.

This doesn’t make anyone involved “bad people”. Not the streamers. Not those excited to open their compensation. Not even the people at Kabam. I have no doubt many at Kabam argued for a much more fair compensation. It is just likely that for economic reasons (and perhaps workload/complexity reasons) the more fair situations outlined by the community just weren’t considered feasible for Kabam.

I honestly am kind of at a loss. Not “quitting” or boycotting or anything like that…I’m just disappointed in how it all panned out, unsure of how to properly “value” deals involving 7-star crystals now, etc….just kinda trying to absorb everything.

willrun4adonut

I would at least like a follow-up response on why they thought this was fair and the best way forward.

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906193#Comment_2906193

Mike already gave one. They dont care and will try to do better so this wont happen again

Searmenis

At this point, I only hope that one of the big whales didn't open his crystals in time and didn't get the compensation, got extremely frustrated and decided not to drop six figures in Banquet. Money is all and only Kabam listens to.

BringPopcorn

I just look at this compensation posts and then think about the special anniversary arenas ... Rofl.. so many matches for what 1 7*? 🤣

willrun4adonut

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906194#Comment_2906194

I know that that is their response, but did he actually say/type that? Can you link to it? Sorry, but the forums is a mess so I have trouble navigating it.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906206#Comment_2906206

Here is the full response from Kabam:

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906210#Comment_2906210

Just kidding… Here it is:

Kabam (Osaurus) RexDec 9, 2025

Hey friends,
First off, thank you for the feedback on the compensation over the past few days. I’ve read every thread, every reply, and every DM.
I get why a lot of you feel this route isn't the move for this comp, especially when you compare it to previous ones. I did bring the feedback to the Team, but ultimately, the decision was made to go ahead with the compensation outlined.
A couple of things we want to be clear about:
We notified that the bug exists as soon as we were aware of it, right when it was fixed, and as soon as we had a compensation plan. From that point, there wasn't much for us to say. As I've said many times, I think it's important you get to speak your mind in a public forum, so I didn't close down any of the threads after a decision was made.
Ultimately, we wanted to lean on the generous side for this issue, since imo, it was a pretty large issue.
Walking the line between “make players whole” and “don’t incentivize future bug abuse” is never easy, and refunding broken Crystals is where we landed on this one.
Each issue in the game is independent of itself. I completely get why many of you are comparing this to the Zola compensation - the situations feel similar on the surface, but in reality, there is a large difference between Basic Crystals and Titan Crystals. Different crystal types have very different economic impacts on the game. Treating every issue with a one-size-fits-all response, regardless of context, just isn’t feasible in the long run.
We know this answer isn’t going to satisfy everyone; it never does in these cases.
We don't want to encourage players to take advantage of bugs, but we do want players to feel confident that the Crystals they open are accurate and correct.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this was as frustrating an experience for us as it was for all of you.
Nobody on the team wants to ship bugs like this, and nobody wants to see the Community upset -
For the obvious reasons, and also because then they have to deal with me yelling (figuratively) about it.
We learned a lot from this instance, and we’re going to keep working on getting better at preventing these issues from happening in the first place.

BadAsh22

I missed the beginning of the stream, did they address this at all?

GroundedWisdom

They addressed it, a couple times, before the Stream. That's what they decided, and they followed through with it. Not sure why the issue keeps being discussed.

People were given double what they opened, and yes. That means Dups, Shards, Sigs, SA, and everything else that comes with opening Crystals. It's been dealt with. We can move on.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906250#Comment_2906250

Be our guest, you can move on. Players affected by this don't feel the same way as you do GW, don't use We, since we don't agree with you or your take on this.

GroundedWisdom

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906251#Comment_2906251

People aren't "affected" by this, not unless you count emotional distress from someone having what they don't.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906257#Comment_2906257

You aren't affected by this.

Little story from an alliance mate, he opened 40+ crystals. Pulled 4x Serpents on 1st batch, 2nd batch pulled it 2x he had his Original Serpent at sig 40.. now he has it at 160. You are probably happy if you got a sig 40 or 60.. or 80... You got any idea how much work some people put to get theirs at sig 200?

It doesn't affect you, I can respect that, now can you please respect our perspective and stop minimizing our opinion just because it doesn't affect you?

You can just move on as you suggested, since at this point you are just trying to piss off the people who feel affected by this.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906257#Comment_2906257

This game thrives by deliberately stoking its most engaged players' competitive insecurity and FOMO, then selling relief in the form of progress & power. This is a psychologically powerful but also emotionally fragile model, because when the most engaged players feel disrespected or treated unfairly, their competitive insecurity and FOMO flips into resentment, and long-term trust erodes.

So it doesn't really matter what the cold hard numbers or logistics say about this situation, because it's the emotional aspect of "the chase" that drives this game's revenue.

Will this incident ruin the game? Obviously no. But for me and many other competitive and spending players, it has shone a light on how absurd it is to take this game's emotionally competitive chase seriously.

Because when a game mixes earned and/or purchased rewards/progress with random arbitrary rewards/progress, it tells its players that dev errors and luck or exploitation can be just as important as effort/financial investment, which can make the latter seem pointless and embarrassing.

TikkaMasala

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906263#Comment_2906263

The dude is just exhausting. Just ignore him/her and any of their responses. They’re all the same. He/she will never change their stance and position regardless of how totally ignorant and wrong they are. So just don’t address their comments and let them be. He/she and Peixe should just get a room together. They’re quite the pair.

GroundedWisdom

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906263#Comment_2906263

Good for him. Have you looked around at the Accounts lately? You keep calling me casual and saying I don't understand, but it's obvious you don't understand the Accounts at the upper crust are already stacked. Players opening that many Crystals are already sitting on powerful Accounts, save for the odd hoarder or two. No matter how much you all keep exaggerating the effects and making it a personal issue, it has very little to do with us. All it amounts to is people crying others got a leg up from compensation, and there's nothing that says people deserve the same leg up from an issue that DIDN'T AFFECT THEM. If it did, you would get the comp as well. That's what it was for.

scott269

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2906266#Comment_2906266

And that is what Kabam should listen to right there. Brilliant reasoning