What you were expecting to happen, and what actually happened:
I expected verse gnomes to drop verses at the end of battles. They did not run away, and they did not drop verses. This has happened 3x’s so far today. Just got screenshots of the third time.
How often does this happen? When did it begin happening?
Whenever a verse gnome is used on the CPU team in world event. Today.
Only gnomes who battle crush provide rewards.
Gnomes are just a troop as any other, you can team up them, it doesn’t mean they’ll provide any bounty to enemies in PVP.
On rare occasions, you get gnomes in battle during the adventures as well. They act the same way: no loot dropped after the battle. If in doubt, look for the little loot bag in the upper left corner of the gnome’s picture during battle. No loot bag, no loot dropped.