I have a certain suspicion that my Skyrim 1.1 patch doesn't work right. I think my leveled lists are a bit off. I'm level 34 but I can see no Ebony armor anywhere. Additionally, I have just NOW started seeing glass armor everywhere, even though that should've happened several levels ago. To test this theory, can anyone tell me where I can buy/find ebony armor?

Lucky, I rarely find glass anywhere, I've gone up the heavy armor tree to get daedric weapons but only use light armor took me ages to find a full set though chests and shops at level 46 and I've never seen dragon or daedric (expect arrows) in chests. If I find ebony it's usually weaponry rarely will it be armor.
I don't think its anything to do with the patch but more to do with randomization and possibly incorrectly asigned loot tables, master level locked chests rarely contain anything good at all for me, sometimes it's just a tiny amount of gold (single digits like 4).

Well what I meant is that, I played on 1.3 for 360 for a little while and I fought bandits wearing dwarven armor for the first time. But I removed 1.3 and went back to 1.1 cuz 1.3 made my game lag far too much. But then, it got me thinking if 1.1 has possibly incorrect loot tables and leveled lists, but 1.3 as the correct ones. It would explain how I saw higher armored bandits for the first time and how some people are getting killed much faster (higher ranking weaponry on enemies). Its just a theory though.

I'm almost level 33 and I found an ebony cuiras and helmet (first ebony armor I've encountered) on a bandit or something similar I killed, but I can't remember where it was. I've also found a hand full of ebony weapons a few levels back on some of the higher level drauhgr. Just keep looking. it's all random generated so it'll turn up eventually.

By the time you get to 36 or 37, you'll start to see ebony weapons for sale at shops too.

yeah it's easy to find ebony mail when you get to the 30's but the beauty of the game is that it's not usefully more powerful than steel armor on expert and master difficulty especially, it's the skills and perks you choose that make it powerful. I find armor is mostly more for show.. a person can get steel to hit the armor cap if they want. Wish I would have went up the light armor ladder and put on some glass instead.

I'd say the biggest flaw is how fast leveling occurs period.. even without trying a person will blink and hit level 10.

Huh how are people finding these armors on bandits? The bandit chiefs always wear steel plate and the highest grade armor that I have seen any npc use is glass by the thalmor

have you been making dungeon dives for shouts? the drauger filled crypts are great for finding drauger death lords. mostly the only place i ever find ebony.

Try the shrine of mehrunes dagon. I have found a piece of ebony armor inside every time.

Yeah, I have done that many times, but they don't seem to drop any ebony at all. What patch are you running your game on btw? 1.1 or anything above 1.1? How about the rest of you guys, are you all running 1.1 or greater?

IIRC I was deep into my 40s before I really started finding Ebony Armor and it wasn't "somewhat common" until my 50s.

Well if you are looking for a full set of ebony you can always do Boethiah's quest. Its not difficult and the armor you get is rather unique and pretty damn badass.

I don't understand how people have enough perks to get smithing and enchanting up so they can make such powerful armor without totally neglecting their battle skills?

I'm level 33 and dont have enough perks to do what i want in the one-handed and destruction! with only one perk per lvl how can you be making and enchanting awesome armor and still have any battle skills???

Because with enough enchanting and smithing it totally renders some perks useless. For example with enough enchanting its possible to get 100% cost reduction on destruction spells. That completely negates the need for most of the half/magicka cost reduction perks in the destro tree.
Also if you really prioritize your perks and get only the ones you need you can min/max and have plenty of perk points left over from the max 81 :X

starting out the game first thing wandering around getting ingredients for about 4-5 real life hours will get your alchemy up and give you tons of money, the money lets you buy iron ore and leather strips, which will get your smithing up. The alchemy will give you money to buy soul gems, which you need for enchanting. If you can find a banish enchant (best) you will make a ton of money, other wise a drain health/stamina/magic enchant enchanted onto the daggers will more then make back the cost to buy soul gems.. basically you can get alchemy, smithing, and enchanting to 100 (actually only enchanting NEEDS to be at 100, the others can just be at 80) without having to fight, though it's a bit faster if you at least buy the empty soul gems too, enchant a sword with soul trap, and leave whiterun and go down the river south of town to the east, killing mudcrabs to fill up the soul gems as you go, and kill the slaughterfish too.

You can enchant to make magic cost zero, in something like conjuration. Do this and you will be very powerful at all difficulty levels, including master until you start getting into the upper 40's where even dremoras will be just ample, not Godlike. Dual cast soul trap on a corpse for free to level the skill to 100 in under a half hour, go to the college of winterhold, and buy the summon dremora lord spell. Go up the tree on the left side to the top so you can cast 2 of them at once, and let the fun begin.

Boethiah's Calling is the easiest way to get Ebony armor. I did found in an Orc Stronghold but not sure how it was put there in the first place.