I love me Eberron. It was a different take, unique to 3E, and interesting for it.

In response to the criticism of Io'lokar, consider: Eberron has a very pointed pulp aesthetic. Io'lokar is meant to invoke Shangri-La, the mystical city of knowledge and secret masters: enduringly happy, otherworldly, full of nigh-immortals.

That trope isn't everybody's cake, but it is a common pulp trope.

I don't remember where I read the interpretation. It isn't mine originally.