Quote - .....it's nice to be able to master the program to the point where you didn't need a plug-in to attain a certain effect and it doesn't hurt to experiment doing so but if you listen to the purists you'll spend the rest of eternity experimenting with your imaging editor with little or no time actually using and being productive with it. Plug-ins are like everything else in graphics just another tool in your imaging arsenal.

I agree, And I think the end product is more important than how one gets there.

Back to the topic...
To me, the orb looks too hard to have a different design. I would like to see perhaps a crystal rendered containing a refracted background.
If you keep the orb with the current design, then I think it might work softer, blending more with the background.