To those of you who read these pages every day the following interview might seem terse or even gruff at times but I find that Ebonlore is very much a successful guild who have proven themselves. If you have never raided you may not appreciate the level of team work and the degree of… Let’s call it good social housekeeping skills necessary to keep a guild running for more than a few years and these guys have been raiding since UO.
If you are returning to this series for inspiration on how different archetypes of guilds can be run then there are valuable lessons that Ebonlore can teach. This guild is older than some of the SWTOR community members and though I have heard some people say that the age of a guild is no measure of it’s success I firmly believe otherwise. It would have to be some pretty strange people indeed who would stick with a guild they didn’t love for over 15 years. Ebonlore has done that and they have committed themselves to end game raiding and PVP for over a decade and through more than 10 different MMOs and they are still together. How many of us can show the same commitment in our guilds?
I would say that Ebonlore is not a guild you would apply to on whim. But if this is a fit for you then you may have found yourself an online home for the rest of your MMO gaming life.
Step into the dark with me as I take you along for the interview I had with Kevin, the guild leader of Ebonlore:
An ebony title image for Ebonlore
Allegiance to: The Sith Empire
PvP
English, US West (PST)
Hardcore (20+ hrs/week), PvP, scheduled play sessions, voice chat requirement, forum and website usage required
Founded in the fall of 1996, led by Ebonlore
Ebonlore's custom logo
What prompted the formation of your guild?
UO Beta back in 1996.
Tell us about starting up in the beta of UO. How many members in the guild currently started up with you?
The guild was started up with a bunch of us that worked together back in 1996 that used to play C&C on the office LAN after work. Not many left from the UO/EQ1 days that still play MMOs. There a couple dozen with over 5 years with the guild playing Star Wars with us though!
Ebonlore Demon Queen Symbol
How did you pick the name?
Ebonlore means Dark History.
Alright but why did you settle on this name? Can you elaborate a bit?
We’ve always been a very dark guild. PvP in the beginning attracted a very aggressive player base that didn’t like to lose on the battlefield. If you are looking for your lunch money we probably got it! Hence the fun I had the other night:
Video: Republic Fleet PvP 1
You call that fun, I call it ganking. I think we will have to just leave that one to the judges below. However, I would like you, dear reader, to keep in mind that Ebonlore is a PVP guild who have signed up for a PVP server in the guildHQ. As such any consternation any of us so-called ‘carebears’ who prefer PVE server rulesets may feel regarding PKing way below your own level should be tempered in light of that.
A bit of visual aid courtesy of Ebonlore
How many members are you strong? How many are active?
We are looking to launch with 100+ active on a daily basis.
What is unique about your guild? What, in your opinion, makes it stand out from the crowd?
This is our 10th MMO together as a guild. We actually do a Guild BBQ every summer in Vegas.
Ebonlore also holds the distinction of most photogenic people in one guild in SWTOR. Good grief what heart breakers! /swoon
Ebonlore is an endgame raiding guild, but those come a dime a dozen. What do you think has been the recipe for success for Ebonlore? Obviously you’ve succeeded being able to hold the guild together and going for a decade. How? Why should a reader want to join Ebonlore over any other end game raiding guild?
We are much more than an end game raiding guild. The core of the guild knows how to work together with precision and how to push their characters to the limit. That was my biggest bitch of why we avoided WoW for so long. The skill level of the average player there was terrible! We demand dedication and excellence out of our player base if you want to raid with us!
Now that's dedication! Excellent!
Tell us about your guild’s artwork, the banner, web design, video, anything else?
I do most of the website myself but I have several other talented developers on staff
I have a very dedicated staff:
Muertes – PvP Officer
Kuvu – Crafting Officer
Raisty – Social Secretary
Vipin - Moderator
Mance – Moderator
M1A1 – Recruitment Officer
Dice - Webmaster
Ebonlore promotional video. (There are some very strong scenes in this video clip. Consider yourself warned!)
Don’t do it unless you are dedicated and have leadership skills!
Are you looking for more members?
Yes we are still recruiting players interested in endgame raiding both PvE and PvP.
Prospective applicants should have a certain degree of nautical drinking skills
When looking at prospective applicants and their applications, what is your pet peeve? Or what would you advise NOT to do?
People that don’t login to vent when they login to the game. We highly encourage people to socialize and get to know their fellow guild members!
Does that mean it’s a requirement? Is it in your rules of conduct?
Yes we require our members to be on Vent when logged into game. If they are feeling unsocial they can sit in AFK but we strongly encourage them to get to know people.
An example sig for guildies to build their own Ebonlore sig from
Do you have a naming policy and if so what is it?
We do ask our raiders to take the last name of Ebonlore to display their dedication.
In light of the newly revealed Legacy system are you expecting your guildies to choose Ebonlore for their Legacy name?
We are still testing this in beta if more than one person can take the last name of Ebonlore. It’s been a tradition in several of the games we have played in the past and shows strong loyalty to the guild!
How do you guys pass the time and keep the excitement and guild commitment up while waiting for the game to release?
Weekly guild meetings / Beta Play.
Ebonlore gals! You could very well get ganked by these beauties. I find myself oddly pleased with that thought, heh.
What is your guild looking forward to doing in SWTOR in particular?
Raiding / FFA PvP / OWPvP
We are an endgame progression raiding guild looking to hit 50 fast and start raid content.
I’m a PVP nub so I had to ask Kevin to spell those out for me. On the off chance there might be one other person reading this who didn’t get either here is his explanation:
Free For All Player vs. Player (Tatoonie) / Open World Player vs. Player (Ilum/Open World zones post Nar Shadda).
Thanks Kevin!
Have you set a tentative or firm time frame for your raiders to hit 50 in?
I personally can do it in under 75 hours of game play. We are looking to have our first raid boss down BEFORE launch on the 20th with server stability and uptime cooperating.
An ambitious goal. I suppose those that have been in testing won’t mind ‘Spacing’ through all the conversations and cut scenes by then to speed things up. It seems sacrilegious almost but I can see eventually getting tired of oft-played-through conversations.
Ebonlore site header
Guild amenities. What does your guild have to offer its members?
Forums / Vent / RSS Feeds / SWTOR guides
I did a little digging on my own and it turns out Kevin was holding out on us. I’m sure he’ll get a good ribbing from his guildies though. Allow me to present you to Ebonlore’s Cafe press store of merchandise which proudly sports their awesome logo on Tees, sweatshirts, kids wear, baby wear, hats, mugs, bags, steins, teddy bears, coasters, aprons, wall clocks, posters, calenders, notebooks, so many, many things and… license plates?
Adorable! Sadly, I don't think the doggy comes with the doggy-shirt though.
They also have a very active Facebook account which is sporting beta screen shot, Hard mode Flash point videos and much more. Well worth a visit if raiding gets your blood pumping.
Guild member Raisty being proudly modeled on their Facebook page. She IS gorgeous too!
On the topic of videos Ebonlore has a YouTube Channel stacked to the rafters with videos both from in game and from irl guild events demonstrating beyond any doubt that this is a guild who knows how to have fun together as well as how to hunker down to some serious team work for operations, world bosses and hard mode flashpoints.
And they also have a Twitter account!
They sure do know how to party! Let’s have a look:
We’ve played a few MMOs that failed fast! Shadowbane,VSOH, AoC, and Aion come to mind!
Ebonlore video logo
Tell us about You. What draws you to SWTOR?
Tired of WoW raiding and a lot of folks love the genre plus new content is always good!
What class will you be playing?
Sith Juggernaut.
What do you like about the Juggernaut class that made you choose that?
I’ve always played main tank for Ebonlore’s Alpha group. Jugg was an easy transition from playing a Warrior in WoW for the past 2 years. Plus I don’t care for classes with cast bars!
What made you decide to run a guild?
I’ve always been good at leading groups.
Axem's Ebonlore Sig
What is it like to run a guild a year or more in advance of the game the guild is formed to play in?
We were active in WoW raiding for most of that time so we had plenty to do.
Have you guys ever met IRL?
Every summer.
Quickblade, Grobbulus, Monstone, Dice, Vipin, Caits, Ewle, Jesus Babyg, GermanBooba and too many more to mention. Kevin's words not mine!
What happened in the guild when they learned of the launch date?
People started cancelling their WoW subs!
Since you are feeling so talkative is there anything else you’d like to add?
Any guild that has a social secretary officer has to be fun!
Manly bromances are encouraged!
Thank you, Kevin for sharing Ebonlore with us here at TORWars. I hope you and your guildies accomplish your goals, I wish you many, many nights of success against the best SWTOR can throw at you and most of all I hope you have at least another decade of playing together in your future.
If you are interested in signing up with Ebonlore you can find them on their guild site, internal recruitment thread, Twitter and Facebook.
Please keep the comments below civil and respectful.
[Editor's note: considering that a number of readers had opinions about Ebonlore's past behaviors and reputation, and that these included some very serious allegations of hacking/cheating, we reached out to Ebonlore's GL for a response. After well over 24 hours, we have still not heard back from him.]
~~~
This week’s Galaxy of Guilds is brought to you by Enjin.com, where you can set up and host an epic guild page for free.
TORWars Podcast #77: The Big Subscribers Discussion
Galaxy of Guilds - Stellar Corsairs
Jedi Knight Weekly: Slaying the Dragon
James Ohlen Dishes Out Specific Expertise and PvP Damage Formulas
SWTOR Comic Strip: Fail Hunter Episode 35
Awesome write up Kristen TY for taking the time!
If you every make it out to Vegas look me up well do all you can eat at our favorite sushi joint!
Aside from things that fall into my personal bias of how I personally like things in terms of gameplay, I have to say I was most impressed by this community due to its longevity and evident camaraderie. Some things in gaming etiquette really subjective to personal belief and this guild has had prolonged success in attracting people who share a gaming style while making the importance of community more than any game they have played. For that I respect and applaud them, even if I don’t share their taste across the board, but that is the beauty of variety.
Best wishes for continued success to this community and its ability thrive over the years going forward.
I am SOOOO looking forward to SWTOR with Ebonlore. This is a guild that I have stuck with for many years now. They are a great bunch of people to game with in serious raids and ass kicking PVP.
Awesome group of individuals. High gaming standards, and the results show it. Vegas 2012 baby ;o)
Why no mention of the rampant cheating through out the years? Surly you could pass along some wisdom for the aspiring hacks out there.
Banned from several games, exploited in most. Spam/blind invites and zerg tacticts this guild has no quality what so ever.
For example the time their own member ninja looted their Battlekeep in Age of Conan or getting banned from Shadowbane.
Just for fun I’ve been talking to around 35 or so Ebonlore members in beta and 100% of everyone I talked to took a blind invite and most have no clue who Ebonlore are. No wonder they are so bad in the Warzones.
Wow you got quite the imagination!
We conquered our server (Fear) in Shadowbane wiping ever city off the map! We also planted the first bane in Shadowbane.
In AoC we world firsted the raid content and ran the first city siege.
And complaining about our open invite policy in Beta is just silly. You are just mad because we are by far the largest active PvP guild in Beta!
And no you can’t have your lunch money back!
LOL!!!! You got your world first in AOC exploiting your butts off! Same with seiges. Why don’t you elaborate how your guild has been COMPLETELY banned from games and not allowed to reform under the same name.
Who cares about the blind invites. It just shows you have zero standards.
Pathetic.
“Open invite policy”, “x bad troll insult”.
I rest my case.
While our guild attempts to avoid having to make negative posts concerning other players or guilds, in this occasion however, we must make an exception. We are currently partnered with TORWars to provide video guides and do not wish to remain silent in this matter as it may indicate we support such actions.
Ebonlore is known for exploiting and their past leadership not only condoned such actions but directly participated in them. We played against them Vanguard: Saga of Heroes before they were disbanded for 3rd party teleport hacks, botting, and duping. This went on for months and we witnessed firsthand many of their members including their current GM were utilizing these exploits. When Ebonlore was officially disbanded by SOE in Vanguard their GM was one of the players also banned at the time.
I have contacted Ms. Archer and she informed me that she was not aware of Ebonlore’s previous history. We (Condemned) do not believe TORWars would have promoted this guild if they had prior knowledge of Ebonlore’s past gaming exploits. This is not a guild deserving of praise or recognition.
http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=23100
http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?&topic_id=23098
I’m not a member of Ebonlore, but apparently some people seem to forget MMO’s are a game you’re supposed to play them for fun… Learn not to take things so personally, and let it go you guys.
Those vanguard posts are from 4 years ago Louden. It can’t be healthy to have all of that anger bottled up for so long.
It sounds to me like the only thing Ebonlore is guilty of is giving a lot of other guilds ulcers.
Hey everyone -
Galaxy of Guilds now has a long, rich history of interviewing guilds and guild leaders of every type and play style. We’ve got carebear guilds, RP guilds, endgame raiding guilds, and many others. In this case, Ebonlore is openly a very hardcore endgame raiding and open world PvP guild. That last part makes them the enemy to some virtually automatically, and at least controversial to others. The allegations of cheats/hacks/exploits increases the controversy. (We knew about the PvP part, though the hax part was a surprise to us) Every now and again a controversial guild gets interviewed in Galaxy of Guilds.
The reasons controversial guilds get featured in Galaxy of Guilds are various. We don’t personally know these folks before they get featured – it’s an interview, and so we only hear things from their perspective. It’s not feasible for us to solicit feedback from the greater gaming community prior to an interview. The factors that are considered include things like the time they’ve spent together in prior MMOs, their online presence (website, promo videos, etc) that indicate they’ve put some effort into their guild, etc. Again, we don’t know them personally, and haven’t played with them before they’re interviewed. Equally important is that, from our perspective, this is an interview, and not an endorsement.
Would we interview Dives and Wipe Club (the “more dots” guy)? IMO, I’d be in favor of this. How about Goonswarm? Again, I’d be in favor. While their values aren’t the same as everyone else’s (and personally, I cannot stand either one, and wouldn’t want them on my server) they’re interesting, and they’re the kinds of guilds/players that MMO gamers should know about. Would we endorse either Wipe Club or Goonswarm? Are you kidding me? Not a chance.
I feel like I’ve rambled a bit. Bottom line is that we do not usually know the backgrounds of the guilds that get interviewed, and so every now and again, a controversial guild is spotlighted. That’s not an endorsement or a blessing by TORWars, however – very far from it. It’s simply an interview, and interviews with controversial guilds have their place. These kinds of interviews are interesting, informative, and they allow the greater community to pipe in with their opinions – like many of you have done here. In absolute sincerity, I appreciate everything many of you have said here. While we don’t love controversy here at TORWars (we’re a friendly bunch), we (and the gaming community overall) wouldn’t know anything about this without your comments and support.
I hope my blathering sheds a bit of light. Thank you again for your support, and for reading TORWars.
Jeff
So let me get this straight. Torwars publishes a spotlight on a guild that was banned from two games for bug exploitation.
Part of the spotlight is a beta video showing a bug exploit in TOR – getting into the Republic Fleet, which should not be possible.
And this is being featured as something cool and something to laugh about.
Whats next? Lets feature a guild of gold farmers just to get there perspective.
That line of argument is stupid Jeff.
I didn’t hear Jeff saying that this is something “cool and something to laugh about” and calling someone’s line of argument “stupid” is high school.
Truth is, I hate the guild but didn’t know I hated them until I read the comments. If this interview hadn’t been posted and people weren’t able to comment about the guild, I might’ve accidentally joined them.
While I dislike the fact that Ebonlore got any kind of acknowledgement, my foresight AND my hindsight are now both 20/20.
they should definitely take off the ‘republic fleet pvp’ videos. this is basically showing a bugged hack/exploit in the tor beta.
I don’t think it should be removed – many of you have pointed out the controversy behind Ebonlore. We weren’t aware this was controversial/exploitive prior your comments – this vid edumacated me, at least – and the video demos some of what you’re talking about.
It’s also being fixed so it can’t be repeated, so it only makes your point and causes no harm.
THAT’S THE POINT OF BETA! Find the bugs, use the bugs, track the bugs, report the bugs. That’s what we did and we had fun doing it. Made this forum has a TON of carebear babies on it lol
“Find the bugs, use the bugs” – continue using the bugs, claim world first based off exploitation of the bugs, get banned for the bugs, have your guild disbanded from the bugs… all in a day’s work Ebonlore.
before throwing around the term babies, take a look at your own guilds maturity for feeling like they need to cheat, repeatedly, in order to ‘win’.
The whole point of beta is to find and report potential bugs and exploits. The fact that this was found and reported by the very guild your claiming cheat contradicts your previous statements. If they wanted to “cheat” would they have reported it and made it so blatantly public of a issue? Just food for thought. Everyone has their own opinions and no one can change anyone else opinion, However, putting out false facts about a guild is careless and makes the poster unreliable.
That argument only works when your guild doesn’t have a track record of being banned from games because of cheating, Rikx.
Think what you wish and what you feeling is right. I was simply stating a fact. The reason this is getting fixed is because Ebonlore found and reported it. Saying anything else is objective or personal.
This is why I love this series. It’s not about featuring only the most well liked or desirable guilds for the sake of patting people on the back all the time. It was a well put together piece on a community that has existed for a long time and to celebrate that in the community.
Part of a community like this is that people can sing your praises after the article for what they love and call a group out for things that they don’t like, agree on/approve of. Variety is the spice of life and while many may not like the style of play being perpetuated by this group, there surely are plenty who in seeing things fleshed out will find this to be the ideal home. That is why no guild is ‘one size fits all’ and while I don’t have any respect or support in their methods, I also can concede that plenty would and that the existence of such a group, loved or hated, serves a purpose.
I have to separate the fact that regardless of recruitment policy or anything others may bring up, that this group seems to exude a level of synergy that a community minded person like myself can respect while playing the game in a manner that I find distasteful.
All in all, it was an interesting read and I applaud them for the things I find value in as a biased individual and don’t dwell over the difference of philosophy. There is a reason we play in our respective guilds, servers, insert variable, etc… it is because we all like what we like that there isn’t only one guild for each faction on any given server, among other reasons of course.
Ranting aside, it doesn’t make those making valid arguments against an organization’s methods seem as objective when the claims sound more like a child tattling on another on the playground instead of taking a tact that points out the problem without seeming bitter. Does this mean I don’t agree with the general consensus as it seems to have a lot of history and evidence to back up? No, I do agree with the general feeling, just not how it is put forth.
Beyond that, I find it hilarious that those who don’t like exploitative play in general, as well as some of the claims are considered ‘Carebears’. Perhaps that some of us prefer a competitive landscape where cheating to win isn’t a point of joy, humor, nor a foundation to present a guild to the server community. It’d be illogical to think that people wouldn’t find that to be something that a guild with such longevity should be too good for.
So again best wishes to this community getting everything they deserve for better of worse. For the things I find admirable I hope for continued growth and should they perform in a manner that undermines and cheapens the game, that they find themselves ousted for being a detriment to the overall community.
Interesting to me:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ebonlore
Being an EX member of Ebonlore I cant truthfully tell you that they are the lowest of the low when it comes to cheating their way through a MMO. I was part of their AOC branch when we exploited out way into winning a Keep siege , exploited our way through numerous endgame raids. and harassed other guilds with zerg tactics. I quit shortly after I noticed a trend in this kind of behavior from the leaders.
When I 1st saw them in TOR my 1st thought was “oh god here come the zerg exploiters and their blind invites. Sure enough within a day you could go nowhere in the game without seeing a ebonlore member.
Have you even played AoC? “Exploited sieges”?! If you played, you should remember that game crashed during sieges so much that at some point even deference of a keep was not necessary. On top of that you could not hold more than one keep, so there was no point in attacking either. There was nothing to exploit there what so ever.
First off, pretty sure ebonwho = Tassy. Disgrunteled former employee.
I will give you an honest assessment from my experiences with Ebonlore. Believe me or not, its up to you.
I had never heard of Ebonlore until they came out with PvP servers in EQ2. When most people were still level 15 Ebonlore was already max level. A friend of mine joined them, and soon after recuited me as an initiate. I soon found out why they were max level. Most of the core guild members played 18 or more hours a day. They didn’t waste time with story or doing anything that did not get them closer to end-game. The best grinding spots were shared among guild members and their knowledge of the game was amazing.
Their raiding schedule was brutal for most people. The time and dedication to the guild is something most people cannot handle. To top this off, there are some egos in the guild. Axem can be an ass and very demanding. There is very little BS on raids. Unless you are one of the hardest core people in guild, you don’t make the “A” team for raids and usually are a back-up. That said, that is why they have most server firsts for raids. They study the game, learn the mechanics to take down bosses, and are very good at it. Its easy to do once everything is published online, hard when you are the one figuring it out.
So for myself, I was never on the “A” team and usually filled in when there was an opening. I kept my mouth shut and listened while on raids. Never did I see exploiting. I did what I was told to the best of my abilities.
So people on the server always accused everyone in Ebonlore for exploiting, because there was no way, that anyone was able to get X gear from X mob without cheating. I saw with my own eyes how much time and effort from everyone in the guild to get “X” was, and it was pretty aggrevating to have to constantly defend yourself.
I did see two members of our guild use a speed/fly hack in AoC. They were reported by someone else in guild to guild officers, then de-guilded. Soon after their accounts were banned.
Axem has made several posts in the guild forums for beta testers in SWTOR to discover all the bugs they can and report them in-game to get them fixed. Never did he say anything about telling him what the bugs are.
So, yes, I have heard stories about the guild prior to EQ2. Some half-truths in there somewhere I am sure. My belief is that it has never been the type of guild that goes to sunday school. As for open recruiting prior to launch of a game, who wouldnt? Recruit now, lose the dead-weight later.
This is my honest opinion and experience.
If you want to be in the #1 SWTOR guild, join Ebonlore.
If you want to be in a guild who only wishes they were #1, and cries “cheats” to make themselves feel better whenever they get beat to a kill or die in PvP, join one of these other guilds.
Not everyone is ready to step into the dark…
Speaking as someone who has played with ebonlore in the past, they are as everyone says exploiters and a zerg guild. There is really no skill involved with the guild. Everyone if they keep smashing their heads against a wall will sooner or later get through.
Also if you are not in the top 5 people in the guild they will just use you like toilet paper and throw you away after they have aquired everything the core group of members need for gear.
Its like the real reason they stopped raiding in wow was not to take a break from being so elite. its that they could not keep a member base since they had been through everyone.
I have fought against them in many games. AoC, Aion, WoW, EQ2 and Shadow Bane. Never once did i see them hack. Wish i did would explain why we kept losing. Yes they bring alot of ppl to a fight but if my guild had alot we would have too. Not sure why anyone would believe this without proof something that is VERY lacking to this point so stop the hate until there’s proof and maybe some people will listen.
screen shots or it didn’t happen. Proof is always key people!
I was around in VG the same as Louden. Not only was their guild disbanded by Sony, it was a offense worth banning to name a guild Ebonlore after they left to hack other games. Ebonlore is and always will be a cancer that destroys servers.
The tombstone leveling gimmick was priceless, as was the item duping.
Yeah okay. That’s why Sartok went on to flourish after Ebonlore decided to leave the game? Ebonlore is the only reason the FFA-PvP server lasted as long as it did.
I read Louden’s links. It looked from they quotes TOS there, that it was standard operating procedure of Sony to disband a guild and prevent it from forming up again if several of its members were suspected of cheating. It said nothing about who cheated, how, and how many people did it.
You also have to realize, sometimes bitching to customer support pays off, if they figure that they can save few more subscriptions from already dieing game by banning some people.
Ewle
Master
Posts: 115
Registered: 11-11-2004
Viewed 1245 times
Let me let you in on a few secrets since Ebonlore is no more and I’ve cancelled my subscription until PvP becomes a reality in EQ2…
All of Ebonlore crafters were macroed unattended and continue to be macroed semi-afk.
Ebonlore exploited every bug we could find leveling up including bugs against raid content.
We were #1 world wide for wealth due to the explotation of a bug in Runnyeye back in early December. Bashm’s little group(The leadership of this new guild Genocide) exploited hundreds of PP farming a named insta spawn that was bugged in RE 24×7 for over a week while most of you were 15-25 scrapping the pot for gold.
Several of my former IC and members have memberships on just about every EQ2 hacking site out there and regularly use these exploits and hacks for personal gain.
Ewle Ebonlore
Demon Queen of Ebonlore
If iam correct i belive that would be Axems X wife lol. I think there is still a little tension between it seems lol.
From an Age of Conan Blog:
Unbelievable. I expected it to happen, but it still sucks that it really did happen.
Ebonlore, a guild that is infamous for exploiting MMORPG’s, supposedly has SIX level 80 members. Proof is a bit sketchy. People are pointing to the guild directory that lists the level 80 members. Here is a screenshot, if you don’t want to risk visiting the guild’s website.
Supposedly, there is a repeatable quest that grants 10,000xp. It isn’t supposed to be repeatable. There seems to be evidence that Ebonlore had closed beta members who knew about this exploit and didn’t reveal it to Funcom. There have been multiple postings on various forums reporting this exploit. If the exploit is real, the level 80′s might be real. In any case, the rumors are definitely spreading.
Something similar happened in Anarchy Online years ago. I vaguely remember a weapon that was glitched and basically instantly killed anything it hit. The exploiters were eventually banned once Funcom figured it out.
Ebonlore apparently already has a guild city as well. It was reported as news on their forums.
Ebonlore has a history of exploiting and have had many accounts banned in various games. If this rumor is true, expect Funcom to go down hard on this guild. In my experience, Funcom isn’t afraid to ban accounts.
For everyone else, the official word is that it will take an average person about 250 hours to reach level 80. That means a trained team who knows all the tricks (legitimate) would definitely finish far before that.
Thanks for posting it. It was one of the funniest moments in AoC as I remember. Someone looked at their eDKP webpage and assumed levels there match in-game levels. The whole community had a lots of laughs afterwards. Nice journalism.
Screenshots of Axem (guild leader) giving out links to exploits and botting programs:
http://www.opponline.net/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7069&start=0
More:
http://www.opponline.net/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7397
So lets see you are digging up stuff from 5 years ago posted by a openly racist PvP guild hated by everyone?
That AoC post is from an idiot blogger that had no clue that our DKP website said we were level 80 on day 2 because we entered our level at 80? Gotta love idiots on the internets!
Any far are me keeping an eye on the underground sites for MMOs of course I do. You have to if you want to be competitive to know what you are up against.
As far as VSOH goes we very much got the boot as a guild from that game. They used the terms of service against us for being a “Disruptive Force” in game. Ebonlore ruled our FFA PvP server with an iron fist in VSOH there was no doubt about that! If you weren’t Ebonlore there wasn’t anywhere to hide! We wear this accomplishment with honor!
I’m surprised you aren’t complaining about Ewle having train wars in Lower Guk and kiting Spectre’s across the desert in EQ1 too!
I’ve always been a strong supporter of macroing in MMOs. I love my G19 and wouldn’t play without it!
And no you can’t have your lunch money back! But I’ll make you a deal if you roll Republic!
BTW Tassy you really should focus on something more than stalking us for the past 5 years.
I know us giving you the boot crush your dreams but after all this time I think it’s time you found your sea legs and learned to walk without the chip on your shoulder…
Lol. Look at all the proof provided about how you hack. Banned for being a disruptive force. That’s rich. Keep up the good work!
BTW your PVP group in beta is absolutely terrible.
Jealousy is not a good color on you.
“People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present.” – Sparky Anderson
I think this quote sums everything up. Ebonlore has got its faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There’s no future in it.
As Ebonlore is set to dominate SWTOR, it is evident some guilds (Condemned) are terrified…
If Ebonlore were in the Olympics they’d figure out a way how to work a CAR into a 400 meter dash just to exploit it. It’s sadly pathetic how they think they deserve any medals for any of their so called “World firsts” in ANYTHING they do, bunch of bullshit if you ask me.
Not to mention they’ve been caught Speed hacking in the beta as it is. Tsk Tsk. Just pathetic.
You are full of it, been with the beta crew for a long time and nobody has hacked or been caught hacking. Iam really shocked at how many people are jealouse and envious. I have been in ebonlore for 3 years, birthday a few weeks ago…. YAH
, i have never seen anyone hack or exploit.
There is a reply above about how hard we work and how much research we do, if you doubt that hit our forum up right now, its full of info and screens of every craft and mutiple other things. We have spent countless hours in this beta leveling multiple class’s to max lvl so everyone has an understanding of the mechanics of multiple class’s.
Yes we did mass invites in beta and if you didnt you were crazy, how many times has someone asked a question in general and got some idiotic wow reply or totally ignored, we invited to build up the ranks and try to help people with questions or whatever else they needed. Besides how fun is a mmo if you dont have aguild or a group of friends to help or run with…. its boring
Iam not saying we are a hugging cuddly guild which we are not. We work hard at being the best and dominating and we do. You will see us very soon after release holding republic areas and killing anyone that decides to test us, thats what we do and we do it well.
We ask alot from our members and we give back in return for all the work they do. Iam not saying there has been some tarnished history of the guild espically in AOC, but honestly the only way to complete the content in that broken game was to do what you had to and at the time these were the only game mechanics to be able to do it. If you played AoC and there wasnt some kind of broken way to do something you never raided at all.
Anyway if anyone is looking for a long stnading guild that excels and you want to see it with your own eyes and not hear say and angry x members look us up.
Kuvu half these people that are talking bad about ebonlore think researching a game or class means just looking at what spells they get.
Been in Ebonlore for 8 years and can shed a little light on all the stuff being said:
EQ2- never saw any hacking
Vanguard- Game was broken in so many ways, the biggest issue was the bard class was broken and if more than 2-3 of them were fighting while they were flying around invisible and dotting you for millions in damage the zone would crash, I do see some posts back from Vanguard linked up top and I did not follow them but I am sure its the one where the guy mentioned he would call customer service 5 times a day for 3 months and complain til he got what he wanted. There were 2 people that exploited in that game, both were removed from guild, one was a webmaster and he hacked the forums that led to the screenshots.
“unbelievable I expected it to happen but it still sucks that it did happen” -direct quote from the post
Reading that statement should give you some idea of the posters intentions, he is a troll/papparazzi type that lives to get a reaction from others; regarding where the players were lvl 80 in 2 days- was funny it was posted on the DKP site in ebonlores website not anywhere else, if you had done a search in game then you would have noticed they were the same level range as everyone else. It was amusing to see the nerd rage in forums though. Some people have such a chip on their shoulders that they will do anything to convince others to their point of view.
AoC/warhammer – seems another 2 fail games only AoC is mentioned but there was a group of hackers we found out they were wall hacking had gotten gear from dungeons that nobody could access, they were removed from guild, I was an officer at that time, had my account suspended because I was the guild architect and responsible for pooling money to build the city and Funcom did some database search for people with lots of money and locked their accounts, no real research into what was going on, was able to communicate with other guilds and they were all in the same situation, account was unlocked after a week no apology or anything. turned me off to ever playing a game that is not based in the US/has no phone number for support. Warhammer was broken and abandonded by the parent with all the resources moved over to bioware to work on star wars. end game pvp was broken with unplayable lag.
Wow- again no hacking, guild stopped playing because it just wasnt fun and there was no open world pvp to speak of outside of scripted battlegrounds. wow has lost a big chunk of subscribers recently ( in the millions) after their last expansion, I’m sure there will be a post somewhere stating “millions of ebonlore leave wow last quarter”
Swtor- beta’s done now, only played a sorc healer to lvl 20 2-3 times axem and a few others have played to lvl 50, lots of in game experience and you will see fast leveling but not from bugs, instead it will be from people who have taken the time to get to know the game, have researched it to death and will be on 18 hour gaming marathon sessions to achieve the best.
conclusion:
You can find tons of information on ebonlore both good and bad on the internet. Most of you will see negative info because lets face it, when people are mad they love to vent their frustrations. If you get spanked hard in the game and really have no recourse except to complain in forums or call customer service then thats what you will do, if you can’t match skill in game you have to bring it to a new forum and try to win there. As you can see in the article most of the players are adults, we play hard and then we like to have fun also outside of game. but to sum up the article and all the comments you real only need to read the 2nd paragraph where it says its been around 15 years, I wish I could remember the 10-15 guilds I was in prior to Ebonlore or the people I have met along the way and stayed in contact with somehow. Im sure most of you have had similiar experiences. The only guild I can truely say that for is Ebonlore and why I have been a proud member of for over 8 years.
Wow, so much hate fuels me … I was on the verge of quitting MMO’s, running a guild with the talent pool in wow will do that to you. Axem sent me a “mass invite” I took it, but I looked them up and talked to them.
He took me to that next level and when Firelands hit he was ranked number one in the world as a Prot Warrior in World of Logs and I was in the top 20 of the world as a Blood DK. You can’t hack that site … you can’t macro dedication and hard work.
Keep QQing, remember that we killed the first boss in Eternity Vault the right way while Republic Justice line of sighted him …
See you on the race to world first if you have the testicular fortitude.
Open instance play list, see X amount of ppl on.
Right click, Invite to guild.
Repeat X amount of times.
Quality recruiting done!
Really…….really…. come on you can do better then that.
Ebonlore is nothing but a cancer on the gaming community. They have done nothing but cheat and exploit their way through games since EQ.
And yes I do have experience on this, I was on the server with them in AoC. They claimed it was the game (of course) but the problems were never encountered during seiges vs other keeps, odd isnt it? AoC is where they always knowingly exploited a quest turn-in to level insanely fast, then used their newfound PvP ‘abilities’ to camp the gate into the zone so they would have an advantage.
Plain and simple, I’ve played MMOs since ’99 and ran across countless players and guilds that play with the “Jerk” mindset. Those guys are no problem and you can accept that playstyle. So in that reguard I have no issue with Ebonlore, but their constant exploiting and cheating (and being caught god-knows how many times then denying it!) combined with their claim of superiority just makes them a joke. Any MMO and any website should consider themselves blessed if Ebonlore is not part of their community. You’ll be better for it.
now we just need to hope Axem doesn’t find a way to do the same thing he did with his druid alt in WoW. Toon logged on 80% of the day with a botting program farming gathering mats, all while his main was in Capital cities spamming guild invites to apply at website while he was gone to work.
ebonlore was the joke of bleeding hollow. Would take anyone they could and by the time they quit the only original member was Axem on a different warrior because his first got banned. They would do hundreds of wipes on a boss and still be beat by 2 day a week raid guilds. But brag about how good they were and how everyone else was just jelly lol.
I remember the days of fighting Axem and Ebonlore in EQ2 when I was with Havoc and during AoC for a bit…Good times owning them as much as we did, but in all seriousness congrats on the progression so far and good luck in the future. I hope your pvp skills have improved though!