Personally I think its a big F U to the player base. 

I think it remains to be seen just how easy these wil be to get. So far the ones I've seen as rewards, are high enough on the list to be all but impossible for anyone other than spenders - top tourney/event reward basically.

If they start showing up in other places, that may change the equation, but for now I'm going to just hold on to them until I have a better reason to use them. Especially considering the mythical tomes also seem to be top-end rewards, and without those their value plummets.

I have to agree with you.  I haven't opened any yet and still don't see why I would.  

mythical tomes are a whole nother storey.  I have no need for a mythical champ unless they can dominate WITHOUT books.

So I normally would consider myself a dolphin sized spender. I saved the 2 free mythical shards I got for this Sunday. As I have only been playing a Month as of Sunday. It was exciting. First one was a good early game rare. Second was a rare dupe.  did I mention I've only been playing 30 days. So I bought the 3 shard package to celebrate the 30 day milestone. I got first a farmable rare that would be food if I didn't need hero's for that faction. Then I got a 100% food rare. And lastly a lovely uncommon. I didn't expect to hit the jack pot, but I didn't expect to roll mostly food when I have so few champions. Basicly yoh convinced me that spending $50.00 Or so a week on this game is pointless. I will from this point on be F2P user. Thanks for saving me all that money.

I've learned a long time ago that spending on shards is a huge letdown.  It's been well over a year since I spent anything, but the last 2+ years I did spend was only the monthly gem packs for $9.99 where you collect gems every day.  best deal in the game.  But I bought them every month to ensure a supply.  If you don't you'll run out of gems and think about spending on the other gem packs.