And the "Defiant" gear you see dropping on the Aviak is part of the "Living Legacy" event. This was part of the 10th anniversary celebration where they reactivated ALL ACCOUNTS ever created for a month of free play. Even accounts that hadn't been used in years were reactivated.
The defiant gear dropped in 10-level increments, starting with level 10, all the way up to 70. They were "world-drop" weapons and armor that had a chance to drop off any mob in the zones of their corresponding level tiers.
In addition to his, any character account that returned from the grave during this month of free play could claim gifts via a mailbox system which offered you 3 randomly selected pieces of Defiant armor appropriate for your class and level. In addition to the armor, they also got 5 double XP potions and a "Temporal Chrysalis" which would hatch into a black dragon mount after the LL event ended.
Shortly after the Living Legacy Event ended, they went back to some of the old zones like Blackburrow, Splitpaw and Lower Guk and made them into "Darkened" versions for two weeks. Similar to the Fabled event, but the entire zone was changed to be challenging to current "end-game" players instead of just the "famous" monsters. They upgraded existing loot in these dungeons and even added new pieces. For example, plate wearers could try to get themselves a whole set of Enameled Black armor, not just the chest.
Giving away brand new armor to everyone for the LL event, and then doing it again in the darkened zones only a week later was a ridiculous cluster-fuck. Just one more poorly implemented Sony disaster.
Hopefully Big C's post and this has helped to explain everything.
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