I like that you added them in. I think its awesome that since the chances of winning when a nice piece of gear pops up are so slim, you at least have a decent chance to win SOMETHING. However, this will also make items sell out faster than they already do. Good and even mediocre items often sell out within 2 minutes. Previous to this patch, if it was not an item I would use I would not even bid on the item, so that it would hopefully go to someone who could get use out of it. Now with the nice consolation prizes, I will bid on every single Lottery. In a way, this just further increased the gap between those whom are zealous like myself, and those who are more casual. I think this somewhat replaces the fun of the lotto making it something you just have to do now.
As an example. Last night there was a mid level blue with 20 war, and 27 command on it. I did not bid on it because I do not have a hero that would use it, and someone else in my galaxy won it, and was excited as hell about winning it, because it was a big upgrade for him. Under this new system I WOULD have bid and potentially deprived him of that excitement and upgrade, just for the chance at gem shards. And had I won the item, I would have merely sold it to the vendors.