History VideoGame / Paladins

* BottomlessPit: Some maps have them on the edge of their boundaries. They're generally not a major concern, but skilled players can use knockback to throw enemies into pits for an easy kill. Some champions can use their mobility skill to counter this, though.

* RiseToTheChallenge: The "Rise of Furia" event takes place in the Abyss, where players will have to climb the Abyssal Spire and destroy the crystal on the top. Hazards include the slowly rising [[BottomlessPit Abyss]] and the Abyssal Lord flying around and blasting the spire. Dying during the climb will respawn the player at the lowest possible checkpoint. Destroying the crystal at the top of the spire will bring all the players to the top for a 5 v 5 Team Deathmatch, with the team who broke the crystal gaining additional Ultimate charge.

* AntiClimax: This has notably happened a number of times.
** The first notable example would be Siege of Ascension Peak. A lore cinematic and entire brand new gamemode were both introduced highlighting how huge of a lore event it was, seemingly bringing the entirety of the Magistrate and Resistance against each other as Ascension Peak is put under siege; developers around the time of the event and for some time following it would also continue to hype it up, making the event out to be a huge one that would have massive effects on the Realm, with those changes showing up throughout future lore. However, none of this ever happened and the event was slowly revealed to not actually be as grand as it was initially made out to be. The conflict involving the entirety of the Magistrate and Resistance was revealed to actually just have been House Aico against Jenos, with the latter having dealt with the siege seemingly without much difficult by himself as Dragon's Call was occurring. As one may expect from the event now being a minor background scenario, the siege didn't affect the Realm or any characters whatsoever, with the only references to the event following it being an offhand comment by Jenos in the written story to promote End Times, as well as one of Rei's [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/paladins_gamepedia/images/4/4e/Rei_SP_SpawnChatter_Champion_Jenos.ogg spawn chatter lines]] seemingly referencing it, with the line just her being upset with Jenos and telling him he needs to apologize.
** The second instance came with the introduction of Raum, who was hyped up as the most feared and unstoppable of the Abyssal Lords, with his various cards showing him causing chaos and destruction all over the Realm, with it being said he forced the Magistrate and Resistance to drop everything and fight him to stop the carnage. However, barely over a month later, Tiberius' teaser was released, which showed Tiberius appearing out of nowhere, toying with Raum in a location that wasn't damaged at all, as well as no one else around attempting to fight Raum alongside Tiberius, with Raum himself becoming forgotten and not being mentioned in the lore whatsoever for around two years, where he seemingly hadn't been doing much in-universe for the past year while Yagorath rampaged.
** Speaking of, Yagorath is the next instance of this. Similarly to Raum, Yagorath was also hyped up, though this lasted a lot longer, starting with a warning in Siege of Ascension Peak, followed by Atlas coming back in time from a BadFuture that had been devastated beyond repair by her, among much other buildup. Eventually, Yagorath was released and began causing chaos and destruction throughout the Realm, though Atlas had recruited many characters to fight her, notably those on different sides, with numerous more also battling Yagorath in her cards and further trailers. With how powerful Yagorath was shown, being able to defeat other powerful characters such as Karne, Valera, and Io among others, it was largely expected that Yagorath's defeat would be huge, likely involving most of the roster uniting to stop her, maybe even a new in-game event launching to coincide with her defeat, or something grand. Unfortunately, none of that happened; instead, Azaan, a DeusExMachina new character that similarly to Tiberius, came out of nowhere and easily defeated Yagorath in a single hit. A new story was quickly moved onto following this, not dwelling much on the rampage that had lasted for the past year in-universe, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse nor what happened to notable characters such as Atlas and Vora.]]

* DependingOnTheWriter: Many things in the game's lore constantly shift and once established facts can suddenly turn out to be completely false... only to seemingly be reverted later. One of the most notable examples of this with Paladins is the representation of the Magistrate. Many developers have mentioned they're not bad and that their conflict with the Resistance is intended to be GreyAndGrayMorality, with the group and its characters occasionally receiving content that backs this up, but there's also equally, if not more so, content that paints the Magistrate in a negative light, with this back and forth still happening to this very day.

** Seemingly what happened with Karne becoming Grand Magister of the Magistrate, though he seems to have wanted the position and spent the time since doing as much good as possible for the Realm.

** Yagorath is implied to be capable of becoming one through card art, with her also mentioning one of her kin seemingly being one of these as well.

** Raum, who supposedly is a huge deal and causing a huge amount of chaos, vanishes alongside Tiberius after the latter's trailer, and with Raum not appearing and his chaos seemingly stopped, many assumed he may have died. Nope. He randomly reappears fighting Azaan in some of the latter's cards with zero explanation of what exactly happened to him beyond "Tiberius temporarily stopped his rampage".

** Corvus, after being exiled from the Magistrate, is eventually attacked by VII, an executioner who spends all his time assassinating people, with him even very clearly murdering several of Corvus' men in his trailer. Corvus himself though? VII only severely injured him, oddly with no visible injuries, but for some reason left him alive, allowing Lian to bring him in and have Lillith revive him.

** Abyssal Creatures are largely incredibly violent demonic monsters that reside in another world who all seemingly have a shared goal of entering the Realm and causing as much destruction as possible. They also despise the Pyre.
** Pyre Creatures meanwhile, similarly hate the Abyss. Entities of the Pyre largely spend their time keeping to themselves in their own realm, forging weapons to use against the Abyss, yet despite that, rarely ever appearing in the Realm to fight them when the Abyss does show up. On top of this, most of the Pyre don't care for the Realm itself or the people within it whatsoever, with only Furia seemingly caring a little.

** Crystals were a major discovery in the Realm, ultimately sparking the Crystal War shortly following said discovery, however, despite the fact they're stated to be a new discovery in the ''A Realm Divided'' cinematic, Karne can be seen seemingly wielding magic crystals earlier in the same video a century prior to their discovery.

** On the topic of the Magistrate, it's been established Karne's main focus is ensuring peace. While Lex has been shown and mentioned to be going after Androxus, as well as Koga and Caspian being briefly mentioned as being wanted, many other problematic characters are seemingly allowed to roam freely and engage in harmful activities, such as Bomb King, Betty La Bomba, Drogoz, Maeve, Kinessa, Saati, and notably the Thousand Hands Guild.

* SaveTheWorldClimax: Originally, free usage of dangerous crystals was the biggest conflict in the lore, only for said issue to be swept under the rug as monsters such as Raum, Yagorath, and seemingly another Abyssal entity demand attention or have the Realm destroyed. As is to be expected from this trope, despite the severity of these entities, most of the playable cast seems perfectly content to sit on the sidelines without helping.

* SchizoTech: The likes of Fernando, Khan and Ash wear large and bulky suits of armor. They are also armed with a flamethrower, a large automatic pistol, and a handheld cannon that releases shrapnel shot respectively (and Ash's card explicitly displays other people who are armed and armored just like her). Meanwhile, there may be Willo, Evie, or Cassie around, who fight with magic wands or a crossbow respectively. Other characters also use far more typical guns like assault rifles or semiautomatic pistols - though all of these guns are seemingly powered by crystals rather than cartridges. A variety of cards' artwork further corroborate this trope and imply Fernando, Khan, and Ash are hardly exceptions by doing this in the universe, such as [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/paladins_gamepedia/2/2d/Card_War_Machine.png Ash's War Machine card]] which depicts a man wearing similar equipment as her leading other troops using swords and shield into a wall breach, or Khan's [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/paladins_gamepedia/6/6c/Card_Into_The_Breach%21.png Into the Breach card]] showing an armored man on a horse holding a banner with one hand and an automatic pistol like Khan's in the other as he leads more troops armed with spears in the background into a wall breach which sees the wall's defenders wearing half-plate about to flee.

** There's only one way to sprint in the game: by playing Viktor. Raum can similarly run seemingly conventionally, but his has a much more conventional duration limit and long cooldown unlike Viktor.

* '''Front Line''': [[BloodKnight Ash]], [[TimeMaster Atlas]], [[DarkShepherd Azaan]], [[TheTurretMaster Barik]], [[KnightInShiningArmor Fernando]], [[DishingOutDirt Inara]], [[UndyingLoyalty Khan]], [[GuardianEntity Makoa]], [[BigRedDevil Raum]], [[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha Ruckus & Bolt]], [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Terminus]], [[TrickedOutGloves Torvald]], [[AnimalisticAbomination Yagorath]]

On the surface, the game has lead many to consider it a [[FollowTheLeader clone]] of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', but what the developers claimed to have transpired was a situation of concurrent development, much like the VideoGame/{{Infamous}} and VideoGame/{{Prototype}} situation; both games just happened to be developed and released at the same time. Despite its similarities to both ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}'', the game holds its own in the HeroShooter genre.

*** Cassie and Cassidy / [=McCree=] both wield fast firing weapons, can quickly roll in any direction, and possess an alternate fire that can mess with enemies (Cassie by knocking them back, Cassidy / McCree by stunning them). Cassie additionally shares the same ultimate as Widowmaker, both allowing their team to see all enemies for a brief period through walls.

*** Cassie and Cassidy / McCree both wield fast firing weapons, can quickly roll in any direction, and possess an alternate fire that can mess with enemies (Cassie by knocking them back, Cassidy / McCree by stunning them). Cassie additionally shares the same ultimate as Widowmaker, both allowing their team to see all enemies for a brief period through walls.

*** Both games feature an elite unit (Sentinels for Paladins, Blackwatch for Overwatch) within the restructured main groups (the Magistrate and Overwatch), but after a disastrous final mission (never explained for Paladins, Venice Incident for Overwatch), the group was ultimately disbanded, with some members leaving the group altogether (Buck, Kinessa and Tyra for Paladins, Moira and Cassidy / McCree for Overwatch), others staying in the organization (Strix for Paladins, Genji for Overwatch), but the majority of blame fell on the groups' leaders (Viktor and Gabriel).

* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: Talus and Barik fit this in the former's teaser trailer, which is odd considering Barik is usually rather gleeful himself, meaning he either finds Talus to be just ''that'' annoying, or Barik is like many others in the Realm and isn't the biggest fan of the ska'Drin.

** Pyre Creatures meanwhile, similarly hate the Abyss. Entities of the Pyre largely spend their time keeping to themselves in their own realm, forging weapons to use against the Abyss, yet despite that, rarely ever appearing in the Realm to fight them when the Abyss does show up. On top of this, most of the Pyre don't care for the Realm itself or the people within in whatsoever, with only Furia seemingly caring a little.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Most of the female characters display this, which is particularly noticeable when they perform their taunts. As Hi-Rez tradition, the breast movements are pre-rendered instead of having real-time JigglePhysics. Pepper is the only female character to not get ''any animations'' for her breasts or Hair, as she's a MovesetClone of Pip.

* RareGuns: Strix's pistol in blatantly based off of the Luger pistol.

** Corvus was originally introduced as a well intentioned, but extremely stubborn and arrogant individual who served as the Magistrate's leading expert on the Abyss, with his bio mentioning other traits of his as well (which were unfortunately never actually shown). However, due to Corvus being involved with at least three events that ultimately led to massive losses of life, the community began to view Corvus as nothing more than a bumbling idiot, which the developers accepted as well and began incorporating into the game by having nearly every new character and skin with a line directed towards him commenting about his idiocy constantly putting the Realm in danger, rarely commenting on any other aspect of his character.

*** Jenos and Zenyatta both serve as more passive supports that heal their time via marks that can be applied from greater distances than most supports, as well as both possessing an ability that theoretically makes finishing off enemies easier (Void Grip for Jenos, Orb of Discord for Zenyatta).

* BreakoutCharacter: Many characters fall into this, from characters like Maeve and Ying being incredibly popular for... obvious reasons, resulting in them receiving tons of skins and other content, to others such as Corvus, who was initially meant to be a background character, grew to be so popular the developers turned him into a champion, with him arguably becoming the main character of the lore ever since.

* CastOfSnowflakes: Many champions have a distinctive design, often distinguishable even in silhouette form. This keeps the characters easily distinguishable even if you're not familiar with the skin they're using, or when viewing their outline through a wall with an ability. There are exceptions to the former that are skin-related, such as Dragoncaller Cassie being mistaken for Lian, Battle Byte Inara not inheriting Inara's long-flowing dress, and Cottontail Seris not sharing Seris' trademark hood, blindfold or slit-dress, all of which can confuse new players initially.

* BalefulPolymorph: Pip and Moji's ultimates turn enemies into chickens and doggie treats respectively. Pip's ult can affect multiple enemies while Moji's only affects one, but Moji can insta-kill a transformed enemy by touching them.

** Dredge was initially presented as Judd Roberts being revived by the Abyss, only for it to later be said that Dredge was almost entirely the Abyssal entity controlling him, making his pirate-like demeanour ''very'' strange.

* '''Front Line''': [[BloodKnight Ash]], [[TimeMaster Atlas]], [[DarkShepherd Azaan]], [[TheTurretMaster Barik]], [[KnightInShiningArmor Fernando]], [[DishingOutDirt Inara]], [[UndyingLoyalty Khan]], [[TurtlePower Makoa]], [[BigRedDevil Raum]], [[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha Ruckus & Bolt]], [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Terminus]], [[TrickedOutGloves Torvald]], [[AnimalisticAbomination Yagorath]]

** These mechanics ''used'' to be this case, but eventually (at least) loading screen tips were added mentioning them.
*** [[https://paladins.gamepedia.com/Comeback_Mechanic Teams capture the point faster in Siege if their side is losing on score]] (though this was eventually added as a loading screen tip).

** [[https://paladins.gamepedia.com/Comeback_Mechanic Teams capture the point faster in Siege if their side is losing on score]] (though this was eventually added as a loading screen tip). On a similar note, [[https://paladins.gamepedia.com/Ultimate_Ability the killer of an enemy with a high kill streak will gain bonus ultimate charge depending on the enemy's killstreak]], so using an ultimate to guarantee a kill on an enemy with a 15+ kill streak will make the killer able to immediately use their ultimate again.
** Want to maximize a specific stat by pumping all your loadout points into cards that boost it and maxing out the relevant item as soon as you get the credits for it? Sorry, but there's a secret mechanic called Diminishing Returns that reduces the effects of each boost to one stat. The largest boost is always applied in full, but everything else has its effect reduced more and more. This used to be never explained (though it was eventually added as a loading screen tip), and the difficulty of calculating the exact effect of each card in the middle of a heated match means that you can waste a lot of points on cards that quickly become almost ineffective.

* HollerButton: This is how the Voice Guided System works (or VGS as it's better known by players). By default, pressing the V key, followed by a set of letters and/ or a number makes you call out a specific piece of information, anything from "I need healing" (VE) to "I'll attack left flank" [=(VVE1)=] and even the ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' favorite of "You Rock", Cancel That can be done here too [=(VCER, VCRF)=]. There are three VGS systems in place:

* InfiniteSupplies: Nobody runs out of anything in the midst of a battle; however the likes of Tyra and Ruckus and Bolt do need to Reload their supply of bullets in order to keep shooting.

** [[https://paladins.gamepedia.com/Comeback_Mechanic Teams capture the point faster in Siege if their side is losing on score.]] On a similar note, [[https://paladins.gamepedia.com/Ultimate_Ability the killer of an enemy with a high kill streak will gain bonus ultimate charge depending on the enemy's killstreak]], so using an ultimate to guarantee a kill on an enemy with a 15+ kill streak will make the killer able to immediately use their ultimate again.
** Want to maximize a specific stat by pumping all your loadout points into cards that boost it and maxing out the relevant item as soon as you get the credits for it? Sorry, but there's a secret mechanic called Diminishing Returns that reduces the effects of each boost to one stat. The largest boost is always applied in full, but everything else has its effect reduced more and more. This is never explained, and the difficulty of calculating the exact effect of each card in the middle of a heated match means that you can waste a lot of points on cards that quickly become almost ineffective.

** It was originally said that Mal'Damba was black, but years later, it was stated he's not black.

* SeriesContinuityError: The type of settlement that Seris was has never been consistent, sometimes being referred to as a town, other times a city, and sometimes a village, yet nearly every time it's mentioned, it's referred to as something else.

* WordOfGod: Almost everything known about the characters and lore come from these types of statements, and it's not uncommon for different developers to contradict each other or forget / ignore previously established information.
* WorldOfPun: As is Hi-rez Tradition, a lot of the games' humor comes from a large amount of puns the games has, heck Barik's ''name'' is a pun on Barricade! And then there are some skins and emotes that were made specifically ''because'' of the potential pun profit. One standout is [[https://twitter.com/PaladinsGame/status/984152388192821248 The skins released in [=OB69=], which were all love-themed.]]

* TokenNonHuman: Intentionally defied, as the the game runs the gamut of fantasy archetypes, so the human to non-human ratio is about 21: 28: 1, with Maeve being the exception (she is Half-tigron, half-human, and thus is the outlier): The non-humans have Barik (a Dwarf), Bomb King (a Living Bomb), Dredge and Seris (both kept alive by the Abyss as undead humans) Drogoz (a Wyrin), Furia (human by birth, but fused with a Pyre entity), Grohk (an Orc), Grover (nature itself in the form of a tree), Io (A moon goddess who takes a human form), Inara and Terminus (both Stagalla), Jenos (who was once human, but ascended and gained cosmic power), Makoa (an ancient Turtle God), Moji and Rei (both Leipori, the latter using magic to appear as a human), Pip (a Vulpin), Raum (an Abyssal monster), Ruckus (a Goblin), Bolt (a stone that contains a consciousness), Talus, Mal'Damba, and Vatu (all Ska'Drin), Tiberius (a fully-fledged tigron) Willo (a Faerie), Yagorath (massive worm monster), Skye, Torvald, Vora, Ying, and Saati (all of whom are Elves, though Saati is a Dark Elf).

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Like ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', each character's Ultimate ability has one that is heard by everyone on the map. Most characters have two lines, one heard by their allies, and one by their enemies, so in the case of a MirrorMatch you'll know if you should run away or press the advantage the ability gives you.

*** Skye and Sombra are both extremely untrustworthy individuals with an association with purple and a playful personality. The two specialize in stealth operations and were once part of criminal groups (Thousand Hands for Skye, Los Muertos for Sombra) before eventually finding their way into notable positions in major groups (the Magistrate for Skye, Talon for Sombra), yet the two aren't loyal to the groups in the slightest and only care about abusing their resources to get what they want.

*** Terminus and Widowmaker were both initially not directly involved in games' conflicts, but were ultimately taken away by one of the games' groups (Magistrate for Terminus, Talon for Widowmaker) with both being presumed dead, but later resurfaced as agents of these groups, their original personalities largely suppressed, though still somewhat present, replacing them with cold and sadistic killers devoted to carrying out orders.

*** The general main storyline of both games is oddly similar. Both begin long ago (a century for Paladins, 30 years for Overwatch) when a huge war is spreading chaos and destruction (Goblin Scourge for Paladins, Omnic Crisis for Overwatch), eventually causing the formation of a specialized group of heroes to stop this threat (the original Paladins and the original Overwatch strike team), which after awhile, they succeed in. After stopping the threat, both groups restructure themselves with new leaders taking charge (the Paladins reforms into the Magistrate, leadership moving from Valera to Karne, while Overwatch simply restructures itself, with Jack Morrison replacing Gabriel Reyes as leader), leading to a new golden age of peace and prosperity under their leadership.

* '''Damage''': [[ThrowDownTheBomblet Betty La Bomba]], [[ThrowDownTheBomblet Bomb King]], [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Cassie]], [[GhostPirate Dredge]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Drogoz]], [[SummonBiggerFish Imani]], [[FriendlySniper Kinessa]], [[LadyOfWar Lian]], [[DaChief Octavia]], [[TwoHeadedCoin Saati]], [[ArcherArchetype Sha Lin]], [[ColdSniper Strix]], [[CatFolk Tiberius]], [[ScarilyCompetentTracker Tyra]], [[OldSoldier Viktor]], [[AttackDrone Vivian]], [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Willo]]

** Starting from Patch 4.4:

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qeumi0hoBM "Caspian", Thief of Hearts (And Treasure)]]

*** Cassie and Cassidy both wield fast firing weapons, can quickly roll in any direction, and possess an alternate fire that can mess with enemies (Cassie by knocking them back, Cassidy by stunning them). Cassie additionally shares the same ultimate as Widowmaker, both allowing their team to see all enemies for a brief period through walls.

*** The general main storyline of both games is oddly similar. Both begin long ago (a century for Paladins, 30 years for Overwatch) when a huge war is spreading chaos and destruction (Goblin Scourge for Paladins, Omnic Crisis for Overwatch), eventually causing the formation of a specialized group of heroes to stop this threat (the original Paladins and the original Overwatch strike team), which after awhile, they succeed in. After stopping the threat, both groups restructure themselves with new leaders taking charge (the Paladins reforms into the Magistrate, leadership moving from Valera to Karne, while Overwatch simply restructures itself, with Jack Morrison replacing Gabriel Reyes as leader), leading to a new golden age of peace and prosperity under their leadership. However, new threats begin emerging and threaten the safety of the world once more (the discovery of crystals for Paladins, terrorism and conflict as a result of Talon, Null Sector, and omnic rights movements for Overwatch). While the two groups attempt to resolve the issues, making some progress on the matters, they're ultimately powerless to completely resolve the new growing conflicts, and at some point after a massive explosion (crystal explosion caused by criminal in Paladins, Swiss Overwatch base exploding with Jack and Gabriel inside for Overwatch) the event ultimately leads to members of the original groups (Valera for Paladins, Winston for Overwatch) deciding enough is enough and reforming the groups to fight the new conflict, though this action technically classifies them as breaking the law, ultimately putting them at odds both with the new conflict, as well as old allies. However, the chaos continues to grow (the Abyss and Maw becoming active in Paladins, Talon and Null Sector becoming more aggressive in Overwatch), which the newly reformed groups with a handful of new members fight against in the name of what the groups originally stood for.

*** Both games feature an elite unit (Sentinels for Paladins, Blackwatch for Overwatch) within the restructured main groups (the Magistrate and Overwatch), but after a disastrous final mission (never explained for Paladins, Venice Incident for Overwatch), the group was ultimately disbanded, with some members leaving the group altogether (Buck, Kinessa and Tyra for Paladins, Moira and Cassidy for Overwatch), others staying in the organization (Strix for Paladins, Genji for Overwatch), but the majority of blame fell on the groups' leaders (Viktor and Gabriel).

** One of the short stories from "End Times" involving Imani finding Dredge after he steals her gauntlets, and is never elaborated on how she did this. Imani also assumes the Resistance had lit the Warder's Beacon, due to finding some traces of them at that location, to which they arrive at their base soon after, with no explanation given as to how she tracked them down.

* PlotHole: The lore of the game is not without some weird plot holes:
** The Outer Tribunal had been established as being a group of merciless judges that battle supernatural monsters and horrifying threats to the Realm, yet for some reason, when VII released, who is also an outer tribunal judge, these traits were treated as though it only applied to him.
** Cassie's crossbow can been seen in "A Realm Divided", with the implication that it's been empowered by crystals. This is despite the fact that her bio explicitly mentions it being enchanted.
** Several members of the Resistance don't make much sense being part of the group. Grover, Makoa and Moji all intend to protect nature and the Temple Isles from the chaos of the Crystal War; them joining the fight makes very little sense for them to join either side. On top of these individuals, Evie, Koga, and Buck had joined the group, yet none of them seem to have much reason to do so, as they've never been shown with a notable opinion on crystals or the Magistrate (Koga is only fighting to take down Zhin, and Buck is a dedicated follower of Jenos, making his signup equally unlikely to happen).
** In ''A Conflict Reignited'', Karne steps down as Grand Magister, and gives control to the Magistrate to House Aico, an already dubious decision as they have been shown to act out of their own self interest over anyone elses; a fact Karne was well aware of due to past events, such as the Siege of Ascension Peak, further making the decision a baffling move on his part, and very out of character for a person who wants peace for the realm.
** Koga's own lore makes it clear he only wants revenge against the one that planted false lies about him and led to his exile from the Thousand Hands by Zhin. Despite this, when Koga eventually returned to the guild, he attempted to murder Zhin for some reason, despite knowning that he isn't responsible for his own exile. Making things weirder, is in ''A Conflict Reignited'', where the two are shown working together, despite having never addressed this misunderstanding.
** ''A Conflict Reignited'' cinematic also shows the continued discrimination of the ska'drin, yet the cinematic doesn't say anything about their discrimination has changed beyond House Aico now being in charge, leading one to wonder why exactly a resistance opposed to this discrimination randomly formed now after at least a century of this discrimination.
** As with other games, in-game interactions between characters of opposing sides in the lore aren't exactly canon, moreso just containing canon information in what-if scenarios (such as what would happen if Willo ever killed Grover), but also has characters knowing things they should not know, such as Vora knowing Lex warned Atlas of her in the future.

** Siege of Ascension Peak was originally presented as a big battle between the Magistrate and Resistance, but has since been changed to largely just being House Aico against Jenos, leading to confusion on how and why Jenos began fighting alongside the Resistance.

*** Cassie and Cassidy / McCree both wield fast firing weapons, can quickly roll in any direction, and possess an alternate fire that can mess with enemies (Cassie by knocking them back, Cassidy by stunning them). Cassie additionally shares the same ultimate as Widowmaker, both allowing their team to see all enemies for a brief period through walls.

*** The general main storyline of both games is oddly similar. Both begin long ago (a century for Paladins, 30 years for Overwatch) when a huge war is spreading chaos and destruction (Goblin Scourge for Paladins, Omnic Crisis for Overwatch), eventually causing the formation of a specialized group of heroes to stop this threat (the original Paladins and the original Overwatch strike team), which after awhile, they succeed in. After stopping the threat, both groups restructure themselves with new leaders taking charge (the Paladins reforms into the Magistrate, leadership moving from Valera to Karne, while Overwatch simply restructures itself, with Jack Morrison replacing Gabriel Reyes as leader), leading to a new golden age of peace and prosperity under their leadership.
However, new threats begin emerging and threaten the safety of the world once more (the discovery of crystals for Paladins, terrorism and conflict as a result of Talon, Null Sector, and omnic rights movements for Overwatch). While the two groups attempt to resolve the issues, making some progress on the matters, they're ultimately powerless to completely resolve the new growing conflicts, and at some point after a massive explosion (crystal explosion caused by criminal in Paladins, Swiss Overwatch base exploding with Jack and Gabriel inside for Overwatch) the event ultimately leads to members of the original groups (Valera for Paladins, Winston for Overwatch) deciding enough is enough and reforming the groups to fight the new conflict, though this action technically classifies them as breaking the law, ultimately putting them at odds both with the new conflict, as well as old allies. However, the chaos continues to grow (the Abyss and Maw becoming active in Paladins, Talon and Null Sector becoming more aggressive in Overwatch), which the newly reformed groups with a handful of new members fight against in the name of what the groups originally stood for.

*** Both games feature an elite unit (Sentinels for Paladins, Blackwatch for Overwatch) within the restructured main groups (the Magistrate and Overwatch), but after a disastrous final mission (never explained for Paladins, Venice Incident for Overwatch), the group was ultimately disbanded, with some members leaving the group altogether (Buck, Kinessa and Tyra for Paladins, Moira and Cassidy / McCree for Overwatch), others staying in the organization (Strix for Paladins, Genji for Overwatch), but the majority of blame fell on the groups' leaders (Viktor and Gabriel).

* NobodyCanDie: While characters die constantly in-game and NPCs are occasionally implied or shown to have died in the game's lore, despite the developers claiming they have no issue killing off champions in the present time of the game's story, none of them actually seem able to die. Some notable examples include:

* PlotHole: Paladins is notable for lacking information and explanations in many areas of its lore and worldbuilding, which includes some plot holes as well, such as:
** New characters generally coming out of nowhere and having never been referenced at all prior to their introduction, which is more apparent with certain characters that are mentioned as being big deals in-universe, such as Vatu and Azaan, who are both part of Realm-wide legends.
** Speaking of Azaan, as a Pyre entity tasked with keeping the Realm free from the Abyss' influence, it's never explained why he never did anything for certain Abyssal events such as Dredge's awakening, as well as why it took him over a year to show up and finally stop Raum.
** Crystals were a major discovery in the Realm, ultimately sparking the Crystal War shortly following said discovery, however, despite the fact they're stated to be a new discovery in the ''A Realm Divided'' cinematic, Karne can be seen seemingly wielding magic crystals earlier in the same video a century prior to their discovery.
** The reason the Outer Tribunal was created, being to combat the constant threats to the Realm, leads to questions regarding it and the original Paladins, the latter group having been created specifically for that reason as well, ultimately causing a case of VoodooShark.
** Additionally, the Outer Tribunal had been established as being a group of merciless judges that battle supernatural monsters and horrifying threats to the Realm, yet for some reason, when VII released, these traits were treated as though VII was unique in these regards.
** Cassie's crossbow has always been said to have originally been an enchanted one that originally belonged to her father, yet oddly in the ''A Realm Divided'' lore cinematic, the crossbow can be seen on a table in the Resistance's base before Cassie had joined the group.
** Sarah attached the lock of Abby's hair she received from Corvus to her own following Abby being taken away, however, it was said she did this with the usage of Pyre magic, yet Sarah can be seen with the hair already attached prior to her even entering the Pyre church and becoming Furia.
** Kinessa used to wield a more sci-fi themed weapon when the game's setting was intended as more advanced, with this weapon being changed to a more setting fitting one later on. However, her old weapon randomly reappeared in one of Saati's cards with no explanation years later.
** When the Magistrate's Archives map was updated, it was changed into Corvus' personal study, despite him being kicked out of the group in the exact same update. While some may assume the old version of the map is simply no longer canon, or at least was retconned into having been remodeled in-universe at an earlier point in time, the old version of the map inexplicably appears in Yagorath's card, Raze and Burn, despite the fact Corvus being tricked into summoning Raum and being exiled from the Magistrate all occurred before Yagorath was even released from her seal, let alone managed to make her way to the other side of the Realm.
** Several members of the Resistance don't make much sense being part of the group. This notably includes Grover and Makoa, who intend to protect nature and the Temple Isles from the chaos of the Crystal War, making little sense for them to join either side. Moji has additionally been seen with the Resistance, despite this similarly making little sense, though she's since been mentioned as not being part of the group, yet her appearance with the group in Dark Tides was never explicitly deconfirmed. On top of these individuals, Evie, Koga, and Buck had joined the group, yet none of them seem to have much reason to, as they've never been shown with a notable opinion on crystals or a negative opinion of the Magistrate. Buck is additionally confusing due to Jenos fighting alongside the group against the Darkness, yet specifically isn't a member, meaning the possibility Buck joined to fight the Darkness unlikely.
** Additionally, Siege of Ascension Peak was originally presented as a big battle between the Magistrate and Resistance, but has since been changed to largely just being House Aico against Jenos, leading to confusion on how and why Jenos began fighting alongside the Resistance.
** In the short lore stories released around the End Times update, there are several, two of which involve Imani. Firstly, after Dredge steals her gauntlets, Imani somehow manages to both figure out where Dredge is and also arrive there herself to take them back. Secondly, after recovering her gauntlets, Imani assumes the Resistance had lit the Warder's Beacon, due to finding some trace of them at said location, to which Imani arrives at their base soon after, though how Imani knew where their base was located is unclear. With the possibility that the Resistance's base is public knowledge though, instead raises the question on why the Magistrate didn't use that information to end the Crystal War.
** On the topic of the Magistrate, it's been established Karne's main focus is ensuring peace. While Lex has been shown and mentioned to be going after Androxus, as well as Koga and Caspian being briefly mentioned as being wanted, many other problematic characters are seemingly allowed to roam freely and engage in harmful activities, such as Bomb King, Betty La Bomba, Drogoz, Maeve, Kinessa, Saati, and notably the Thousand Hands Guild.
** The ''A Conflict Reignited'' cinematic introduces several. The first of which relates to Karne. He's been said to be very stubborn (similarly to Valera), and has spent the past century ruling the Magistrate and working hard to keep the Realm peaceful, yet the cinematic shows Karne believing he had failed for reasons never explained, leading to him stepping down as Grand Magister, which comes off as rather out of character. Additionally, he decides to give the Magistrate to House Aico, who's been stated to not be very loyal to the Magistrate and often acts out of their own self interest, a fact Karne is well aware of due to events such as Siege of Ascension Peak, further making the decision extremely odd that Karne would trust the Magistrate to someone that he knows he shouldn't trust, on top of people that go against his goals of peace by resorting to violence when they don't get what they want as demonstrated by Siege of Ascension Peak.
** Koga's betrayal is a more confusing one. Koga's own lore makes it clear he only wants revenge against the one that spread lies about him and led to his exile from the Thousand Hands, which he doesn't believe to be Zhin. Despite this, when Koga eventually returned to the guild, he attempted to murder Zhin for some reason. However after many years of the plotline going completely ignored, the ''A Conflict Reignited'' cinematic showed the two working together without issue, despite having never addressed the two making up.
** The ''A Conflict Reignited'' cinematic also shows the continued discrimination of the ska'drin, yet the cinematic doesn't say anything about their discrimination has changed beyond House Aico now being in charge, leading one to wonder why exactly a resistance opposed to this discrimination randomly formed now after at least a century of this discrimination.
** While the in-game interactions themselves aren't exactly canon, more so just containing canon information in what-if scenarios (such as what would happen if Willo ever killed Grover), these interactions are generally based on canon, leading to confusion at how some characters are familiar with others they realistically are unlikely to have ever actually met (such as Vora knowing Drogoz or Maeve), to characters similarly knowing things they also are unlikely to be able to know, such as Vora knowing Lex warned Atlas of her in the future.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: Every mode aside from Team Deathmatch and some LTMs feature capturable points. Aside from the Shattered Desert's point being one of the seals that formerly contained the Darkness, it's never explained what exactly is so important about the specific areas the characters want to capture.

* VoodooShark: The Outer Tribunal, the law enforcement branch of the Magistrate, was mentioned to have been created to combat the constant threats to the Realm, yet this makes matters regarding the original Paladins confusing, as if the Tribunal was created first, why was another different group made to combat the threats, while if it was made afterwards, both begs the question on why the original Paladins weren't just kept around themselves, as well as the point of making a new group at all due to the Realm having entered such a peaceful state it was decided there wasn't any need for a group like the Paladins.