Marvel Puzzle Quest Age of Ultron event plagued with issues in final hours

Bugs and connection issues ruin the event for many

I'm obsessed with D3Publisher's Marvel Puzzle Quest. It combines my love of match-3 games and Marvel characters, so of course I was hooked from the get-go. I play with an alliance of friends and family, and have been doing so for the better part of a year. With Avengers: Age of Ultron a day or two away from releasing in theaters, the game introduced an Age of Ultron event where alliances team up to battle Ultron and his robot army, working as a team to whittle him down and win rewards after certain rounds.

It was going off without a hitch. We are a small alliance of about 19 with full-time jobs and second jobs and families, and with 24 hours left, we were in a great position to get a cover for Scarlet Witch, the newest character to join the game. Unfortunately, due to widespread connection issues and bugs, we did not earn that cover. One person I know had a shot at getting to Quicksilver rewards if the game didn't blow up. Most people didn't earn the rewards they were within reaching distance of, due to problems with the game.

Some people (make that most people) couldn't connect to the game, and when they did get in, the Ultron event wouldn't show up for them. As a matter of fact, nothing would show up for them. No PvP events, no heroic PvE event — only the basic story missions were there. Of course, my alliance was desperate. One person submitted a ticket to D3Publisher and got the following response:

Due to this issue being wide spread, we are unable to offer compensation to players on an individual level. Therefore, if there is to be a compensation, it will be en mass, and it will be announced on the forums.

The event is now over, with the community unsatisfied. The last update from D3Publisher was April 28 at 8:35pm, which reads:

Hello everyone,

A quick update on the server issues. We are aware of the problems and the Demiurge team have been investigating and working on a fix.

I know this isn't much info, but I wanted to let you know that work is ongoing. When we have further info, myself or one of the developers will post another update. Thank you for your patience while we get this sorted out.

I'm not sure what the obvious fix is, but something has to be done. I think the obvious solution would be to open the event again for 24 hours and maybe give everyone a free token. Of course, the greedy party of me wants a free Scarlet Witch cover for everyone that participated in the event. It would be difficult for D3Publisher to compensate players based on where they were when it ended, because people were grinding like crazy, and there's no way for them to predict how far players could have gotten. 

We'll see what D3Publisher ends up doing. Which reward were you close to getting?