Personally, I think the whole "being reborn" thing is incredibly stupid :|
But that's just me, I suppose.
I've got some Buddhist friends who might disagree. Or maybe they'd agree with you? Trying to escape the cycle and all that? I dunno.
Anyway. Anybody else think the ED is just pathetic? Power-wise, and RP-wise! Powerwise, the most directly comparable, the demigod, blows it out of the water. So do the Archmage and DT, for that matter. And as for role-playing, why have Corellon purge your curse when you can become a demigod and do it yourself?
If I were going to fix it mechanically, here's what I'd say:
-let them get back all their encounter powers when they expend the drow one,
-give them permanent combat advantage vs. demons, drow, and spiders in addition to the "spend a healing surge" thing, and
-give them and allies concealment within the aura of light.
Then it could at least be considered vs. demigod.