Rift/Headscratchers

• Is anyone else bothered by "We're not in Azeroth anymore"? It comes off as immature, and rather than trying to focus on the good points of their game, they're just mud-slinging and name-calling.
  • Given that "focusing on the good points" didn't work for WAR, Aion, Ao C, or ST:O, it can be somewhat forgiven.
  • You're not the only one. It comes off as more than a little desperate, and feels like it's strictly marketing for teens.
• So. Defiant clerics. The Defiant are as opposed to the Blood Storm as anyone else, but are essentially telling the Vigil "You fucked up, so get bent." Do they have some different source for their power, or is being a cleric an act of will as opposed to a measure of faith? The only explanation I've seen is from the cleric trainer in Terminus. Who's a Kelari, which is to say that he's likely got a rather unorthodox take on the concept of faith.
  • Defiant Clerics gain their powers/abilities by pacts with random elemental spirits and demigods. Notice that denizens of the various planes aren't in lock-step worship of the Blood Storm and their minions. But to make it simple, they get their powers from gods with a little 'g' instead of the Vigil, which are Gods with a big 'G'
    • That seems appropriate enough for several of the specs, if a bit odd for others.
  • Depends on the breed of Cleric. Shaman and Druid are more nature based, and likely both the Defiant and Guardian get it from the same sources. However, while some Defiant seem to be "You fucked up, so get bent" like Asha, other just believe that the gods aren't going to be able to save them this time while not actively hating them. I would assume that Defiant Clerics, on the whole, are more likely to be in the latter camp.
• So Orphiel's Failsafe, AKA the Time Machine the Defiant use to leave Terminus. Is there any in-game explanation for why it was built in the first place? The only thing Orphiel has to say about is that it apparently fucks up time so thoroughly that the space time continuum doesn't want to even touch it with a standard issue ten-foot pole. I mean, did he have a plan when he ordered it built or did he decide that telling the space-time continuum and causality to get bent seemed like fun?
  • Considering the Mad scientist nature of many of the Defiant it was likely started with 'I wonder if I can do this' and then on actually making it realized it wasn't such a good idea.
    • Ironically, though, it seems that this "sure why not" attitude to science ended up saving their asses in the end. But is there any actual canon explanation as why Orphiel built the damn thing? I mean, yeah, it's use becomes immediately obvious once you realize that Terminus is utterly fucked but was this Orphiel's plan? Is Orphiel a regular Mad Scientist who stumbled across a way to create a one-way tunnel through time or is he a Magnificent Bastard who foresaw Regulos possibly winning and therefore created a way out for the doomed Defiant of that world?
  • He may have built it because he knew they were going to lose, you have to remember, as soon as the first defiant came through the time portal and fended off the guardians, time was changed from that point on, so his Crazy Prepared device seemed a little bit...odd