The Problem with The Compensation

For anyone who didn't open or didnt open their entire stash, would be at a huge disadvantage compared to those that did. The base pool of 7*'s is more diluted with champs than public pools are with chlorine and urine, so getting a 2nd chance for multiple crystals is basically like getting handed down a selector for champs someones missing.

Rather than excluding those who didn't open any crystals, why not just do a roll back to a previous time before the crystals went live and offer a global (emphasis on Universal) compensation.

Now heres the key takeaway. The current solution leaves out those who didnt open entirely which leads to FOMO, but what about the next time something like this happens? Because of the current solution, i can promise you that the next time something like this happens, players will DELIBERATELY take advantage by opening all their crystals, which is the opposite of what the intention is (waiting for the fix before opening etc)

So again, a rollback and a global compensation would make more sense.

Comments

Vanitelia

As an act of transparency, why don't they roll out a bug report…tell us the number of accounts and amount of crystals affected by the error? It would provide more insight into the actual impact it has on the game.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904194#Comment_2904194

So if this comp is "fair" to your eyes, the Titan crystal comp was unfair right?

You may say it doesn't affect people directly, and you may be right; but telling people it doesnt affect the balance and health of the game while people spent cash on Sig Stones, awakening gems, and other things while others are getting insane amount of dups seems a bit silly don't you think?

2 wrongs don't make it right. The crystal mistake (people need to stop calling it a bug, it was human error) was wrong, the compensation is wrong as well. Doing the right thing for the affected people doesn't mean its the fair thing to do for the game.

They found the issue they should have shut down the server, and dealt with it. The same way they have done in the past with other items. Not give people a window of opportunity to exploit an issue.

jcphillips7

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904194#Comment_2904194

In regards to your last sentence:

Earlier this year, we had a spat amongst myself and a couple of my other co-workers. In 2024 when I was hired, myself and my buddy worked in a different space than two of them, and I'd come in at 0600 and leave at 1400. My buddy would always come in around 08 or 09, so he'd leave 8 hrs after that. It just worked.

Eventually leadership decided to move everyone to the same office. I kept to my same schedule, as did my buddy, and the other two workers came in still around 0700-0730. Well, me leaving at 2 every day started getting on the one girls nerves. Her argument was "It's not fair to Xxxxxx. He shouldn't have to stay here until 4 every afternoon. Maybe he wants to come in early." The guy in question said he didn't really care. He gets there when he gets there. Well, she brought it up to our contracting boss during a Teams meeting one day (no names, but "some people leave earlier than others and its not fair"). The bosses debated, and as long as our supervisor on-site was fine with having at least one body there until 1600, the issue became a non-issue.

As soon as that update came out, the girl was the first to ask everyone all happily: "So y'all okay with me coming in at 6 too?" Her argument came crumbling down. She didn't give a rat's ass about our other coworker and fairness for him. It was for her. And she's always the first to kick rocks as soon as 1:57 PM hits every day.

This crystal situation reminds me a whole lot of that.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904198#Comment_2904198

Bro, Kabam has completely vanished after that comp announcement. You have people like Seatin and Lagacy with their half a million subscribers explaining how awful their decisionmaking is, so they're probably just hiding out hoping for the community outrage to dissipate.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904206#Comment_2904206

Of course a sizable portion of the complainers here are only complaining because they want free stuff. But you also have important figures in the community like Seatin and Lagacy explaining why this is a terrible resolution by Kabam. And at the end of the day, Kabam's hypocrisy and arbitrary decisionmaking should strike a chord with anyone who cares about principles in this game. So just because a bunch of people will join in with ulterior motives doesn't mean the premise of the complaint is hollow.

Stature

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2903938#Comment_2903938

P3/T2 war puts you outside the top 1000 players in the game. Tier 2 war is 0.16%-0.5% of players. You could be 1501st or 5000th best player in the game, the game itself groups you as similar. You may be spending a lot of time on the game, you may be scrounging every single sig stone and doing everything else you can but some people getting a few more crystals isn't going to change your relative positioning materially. The only impact on your game experience is from your perception of being left behind rather than any meaningful change in the game itself.

Cdub5071

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2903932#Comment_2903932

Then why do they create rules for competitive fairness and to reduce unfair advantages LOL.

Cdub5071

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904001#Comment_2904001

Which they will completely ignore as usual

RSoxNo1

Kabam acknowledged the problem but did not send an in game message, just a forum post. I understand that this type of thing requires them to act quickly, but ultimately an in game message is absolutely necessary. The other thing to do is pull any affected crystals from the roster of available crystals for opening. I'm not even sure if that's possible, but if it is possible and it's accompanied by an in game message, than initial panic would be reduced.

As for the compensation itself, a 1:1 crystal replacement is absolutely necessary, but it can't be the only resolution. Given the circumstances, there needs to be something else for all players and the October 3rd compensation is the precedence. That compensation included a Titan Nexus, sig stones, gold, T7 Basic and several other goodies. The composition of a global compensation would differ, but the value proposition should remain the same.

This changeover was anticipated by a large percentage of the player base and a large percentage of that player base are big spenders on the game and amongst the game's most loyal supporters. It's absolutely in Kabam's best interest to make them happy.

The 1:1 for crystal replacement for all crystals that contained the mis-represented 7* pool has to happen, but so too does something else:

Option 1: Global Comp that includes Sig Stones, Gold, ISO Selectors and a Base Pool or 21 Champion Champion Selector
Option 2: Double Crystal week. Anyone that opens any crystal containing the 7* base pool from 10 AM PST Wednesday 12/3 to 10 AM PST Wednesday 12/10 gets double crystals.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904213#Comment_2904213

Good analysis based on not getting the point, you can play a whole season of war and get a few 1000s shards, exploit a bug get 2x the crystals…

Polygon

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904170#Comment_2904170

No, youre just a pretentious moron that convinced himself there's no impact from tbis issue, despite 7 people replying to your post stating otherwise and despite the last 10 pages of forums being blown up due to this issue. And the fact you ignored all my points basically proves the lib mindset.

I knew you were a forum whiteknight that by default simps for Kabam , but to think that 1000s of sig stones (per player in some cases, multiple Titan shards) is NOT an impact tells me you're severely daft and incapable of any logical thinking.

Mind you, we just had a deal in which 100 sig stones were priced at $100.

Assuming A best case scenario if someone had 1mill shards and hypothetically duped all their 7*'s from it, thats 60+ pulls which turns out to 1300+ sig stones for FREE.

Aside from the clear advantage over those who saw the announcement and chose not to open (to not exploit the bug) or those who were asleep/at work etc, that basically devalues sig stones and also impacts prestige which was expanded to top 30.

So yeah continue with your typical delusional replies of it not being an impact.

startropics

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904171#Comment_2904171

Disagree all you like but the comp is busted and in a competitive game where these materials can potentially cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, players rightfully feel left out.

I popped 50 after the fix and awakened 5 solid champs, got several max sigs, and got good sigs on a bunch of others. My batch likely saved me 2 class gems and a minimum of 60 sig stones plus a free Titan. Don't care how dismissive you are, these weren't nothing.

Joker1976

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904051#Comment_2904051

just like i said “defer, deflect and defend”,..can’t say i’m surprised coming from you.

I disagree with your rebuttal,..especially with the missteps,.,and them not being able to run their 10 + year game without any issues every month.

Compared to other mobile games or video games in general,…kabam is exceptional at this.

As for your other points they have been trumped bt others who’ve replied to you….so why waste my time?

startropics

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904234#Comment_2904234

Ignore demonzfyre. A guy who has the easy job of offering zero opinions of his own, cause that would open him up to criticism, while always criticizing others.

Malakai1970

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904249#Comment_2904249

Bugs happen, at this point we are more than used to them, and even expect them. Not checking the table of contents of a crystal before releasing it IS NOT A BUG.

Stature

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904233#Comment_2904233

You said it was detrimental and others don't get it because they are all casual players. You'll still get the same shards next season that you got this time. It's not detrimental to how you play or what you get. Only deterioration in your game experience is that you feel bad someone else has more. That's a personal choice.

Do I wish I could have opened 50 crystals in that window? Sure. I already have 150+ 7-stars, even opening 50 crystals wouldn't make a whole lot of difference to me or dramatically increase my ability to do anything in the game. Maybe it makes me 2-3% weaker on a relative basis for a couple of seasons, hardly worth all the crying here.

pseudosane

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904234#Comment_2904234

keep politics out of this.

Malakai1970

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904006#Comment_2904006

It is called 'disparate impact'.

I usually don't respond to strawman arguments like this, but I will give it a go this time:

My alliance is a top 10 AQ alliance. Ever since the 30 prestige decision, we dropped from a comfortable 7th to 9th place to being on the edge (10th to 12th place). Any change to the other 10 or so alliances' prestige has an impact on us. If we lose our 10th place spot, we will miss around 37,500 radiance every month in AQ alone. That could be the difference between r4ing a new prestige champ now, or wait until later. That time difference makes it even harder to keep up.

To go even deeper, if someone gains a prestige advantage because of this decision, they could potentially end up in a higher EQ ranking. Now, they are getting more rewards to help rank up and grow their rosters. This has a snowballing effect which then affects our AQ rankings in the future, thus potentially keeping us behind.

If someone got this advantage because they cleared content faster or spent more money, then kudos to them. They deserve the advantage. This is not the case. This was a decision made to essentially double the chances of them getting the sigs or champs they need. This could also be the reason why they get a new titan pull that could affect their prestige. Three of the new titan champs (lizard, dracula, frankencastle) are all top 30 prestige champs. If they get lucky and pull one of those because they got extra crystals, it would have an impact on my account as stated above.

Now I will address my strawman comment because I don't want it to derail my initial point. It is a strawman because you know that there is no way for a regular player to determine how a change to 300 other accounts (players in the top 10 alliances) will affect them. So it is impossible for any of us to explicitly point to the exact moment it happened. It is like asking a sick person to identify the exact bacterium that tipped them from being healthy to being sick. It can't be done but the results are the same. Hence, the term disparate impact.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904264#Comment_2904264

What nonsense are you babbling about? I said it was detrimental to the ingame economy, not because other people don't get it. The difference i made was that casual players who don't invest on sig stones probably don't see a big problem on this. Is it the same for someone who spents trophies in BG store for 7* shards and someone who buys the sig stones? No is not.

I find p3t2 to be pretty casual too btw, the war reference was done to point out how long it takes to earn 7k shards on long time content like war, while other people will get 2 times the crystals for doing absolutely nothing other than being lucky on a heavy exploitable bug.

Slonerko

Just want to add a couple of things.

1. The fix goes well beyond "compensation" which denotes balancing out a loss. By giving 1-to-1 7* crystals, Kabam gave everyone affected by the error double value for openings with two different pools. That's huge. Someone in my alliance had over 20 crystals hoarded, and suddenly they had 20 more. So not only did he get the 20+ openings he saved for (no loss), he got an extra 20+ for nothing.

2. Presumably, plenty of players did not hoard crystals because they prioritized champs in the old pool. This is a perfectly rational decision when trying for, say, Serpent, or a Chee'ilth dupe etc. The odds of getting that champ or dupe were better—or should have been better—before the changeover. But everyone who made that call with the information at hand back when the change was announced (I'm in this group, btw) got served with a massive helping of regret when this compensation went live. The expanded pool notwithstanding, you'd have to be a fool not to want 2-for-1 crystals.

I don't know what the right call would have been. Were it possible, offering a reroll on any opened crystal would be the most fair approach, but I don't guess that it's practical to program a keep/reroll option for every crystal opened for all affected players. I do think Kabam should consider providing players not affected by the error some kind of reward because, despite not being directly affected by the missing champs in the 7* pool, the compensation amounts to a surprise jackpot that most of us got locked out of.

Chuck_Finley

On top of it all… complete radio silence since the announcement despite at least 10 better solutions being put forward.

This after ALL the assurances they want to hear from us, want our feedback, and want to communicate more.

What did that last… 2-3 weeks? About as much effort as to making sure crystals are right and compensation is fair.

GroundedWisdom

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904315#Comment_2904315

This isn't an issue that requires feedback. Especially considering the vast majority of people commenting weren't even affected by it. Feedback is one thing. Asking the Forum to make decisions for them pertaining to what's fair compensation for OTHERS is not a situation that applies to not listening to us.

Polygon

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904252#Comment_2904252

Oh trust me, I've been aware of his BS for years now. The guy above that called out his "Strawman" and the other one that commented on his dimissiveness are spot on.

I think the forums is starting to see it too that this guy basically argues against the playerbase defending Kabam vehemently , every time an issue like this occurs.

The sad part however, is despite the 20+ strays/replies hes gotten on this thread, at the end of the day, he's still going to hang up his Kabam poster in his room and not change his phones screen saver

Mr_3xcelsior

Bunch of crybabies. Folks who opened bugged crystals will get 1-1 compensation, and all players will get titan nexus and other compensation. Dont like? suck it ip or leave the game. Still your choice. Sometimes it feels like this community is led by addicted and sick players

Stature

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904309#Comment_2904309

It's hardly any more detrimental to the economy than all the stuff that's happened in the last 6 months and will happen in the next 4-5 weeks. They literally doubled the mega compensation due to a bug and the game is still standing. An extra few thousand 7-star crystals are not going to make a difference. Every one will get a bunch of crystals in the banquet in 2 weeks. The adjustment here will not even be 10% of the crystals that will get opened in banquet. Stepping in to 2026, it won't make a shred of difference.

Vendemiaire

I'm calling it. Since there's a livestream tomorrow for the new content and to hype the Banquet, the 7* Crystal will be addressed first and they will announce a compensation for everyone even those who are not affected. Maybe a few sig stones, titan shards package, and a 7* Nexus or two.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904322#Comment_2904322

So you don't know the difference between everybody gets something and just a few get a lot?

Just in case I am not interested in being compensated, I want Kabam to find a way to fix the mess caused by the bugged crystals.

Mr_3xcelsior

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2904333#Comment_2904333

And people still wont be happy