If the rewards specifically for season 1 are the dealbreaker, then my condolences to your loss. I don't have a whole lot to add here other than this system being established since way before Crystalline Conflict.

In hindsight now you know how the system works and I have my doubts they will ever rework this, but my personal word of advice - if you know there "is" a reward for something but you don't know "how" or "how long" it is available, it is prudent to actually learn about this by either interacting with the respective communities (plenty of PvP discords if not linkshells exist for this) or doing research by looking up ways to "lose" rewards.