Legion of Exiles (LOE) was created in June 2005, but its roots extend back further than that. Its origins lie with the now defunct guild The Seventh Order (TSO). After the original guild master, Banfi, left along with a number of others to join Soldiers of Light, TSO was left in a diminished position. Grytts became the new guild master, and they merged with another guild Victory or Valhalla. The merger caused more problems though, and TSO became too large and unruly so a few of the older TSO members left to form LOE.

LOE’s first guild master Wayneski, has since moved to Soldiers of Light, but the current guild master, Ironside, is keen to move LOE forward and progress through the end game of World of Warcraft.

“Wayneski picked [the guild’s name]”, Ironside says, “it just seemed to suit, we had left TSO so were sort of exiled.”

“LOE is about having fun in a game. We like to raid and see ourselves as a raiding guild, but not like some other guilds that must get server first kills or instances cleared.”

“We try to raid five nights a week, but Fridays and Saturdays can be harder due to people going out for the weekend. Sundays we start raids at 6:30pm server time and week nights we aim to start at 7:30pm. We’ve started using a raid calendar mod so we can set out raids and people can sign up for it. If we have the required numbers online we will raid a 40 man instance, if not we swap it to a 20 man raid.”

Since LOE began raiding Molten Core late 2005 they have since managed to defeat Ragnaros on numerous occasions and are making steady advances in Blackwing Lair. But progress has not always been a steady process. LOE suffered a number of setbacks after critical members departed WOW. This left them in the unenviable position of having to train and equip replacements, which set them back substantially. But those dark times are now behind them, and LOE’s focus is firmly set on defeating BWL.

“[Raiding at first] was hard due to the fact that LOE was a lot smaller and didn’t have the full amount of people in guild needed to make a raid guild only, so we would often have ten or so friends along. Also when learning a 40 man a lot more concentration is needed than the five and ten mans.”

“It’s hard [to keep motivation up] but some members still need things from MC so we go, but I think doing MC over and over pays off when the guild gets better equipped and that helps us progress into BWL. Also when we cleared MC for the first time in one night that raid was given a DKP bonus. Little things like that help.”

Joining the ranks of LOE is not an easy affair though. “Because LOE is an end of game raiding guild, we only take level 60s maybe high level 50s, but we also look for new recruits to have done the quests to give them access to the 40 man instances and to have a good set of gear. We have a recruitment section on our guild website (http://www.psonlineexperience.co.uk/loe) where people can apply.”

As with many guilds, keeping everybody happy can be a full time job, and LOE is no exception. “[What I find disheartening] is when I leave somebody out of a raid and they get upset. But the worst is if a person gets left out and then starts to argue in guild chat or bombard me or officers with whispers. Also seeing members leave the guild for what ever reason they have. This tends to lower guild morale and make myself and the officers think we are doing something wrong.”

While LOE’s immediate goal is set inside BWL, Ironside has his eye on the future. “I would like to see LOE having cleared BWL and be well into AQ40 and the new 40 man instance Naxxramas. With luck in six months the expansion will have been released so there are a lot of possibilities.”

Despite enduring a few rough moments, LOE has managed to build itself back up again and is currently making steady progress in BWL, recently defeating Firemaw. LOE has a stable future now, and it can be safely assumed that they will soon be joining the ranks of the numerous guilds that have defeated the might of Nefarian’s armies.

Legion of Exiles (LOE)