no global ooc in offpeak killed the game
 

Or to be precise...

Yes when there are 600 players on the server, it's fine you can run to EC and buy /sell stuff. You can go to a dungeon and shout LFG

In off peak, which is my play time as well as I suppose the other 200 guys who are on at that time, this just doesn't work.

The game world feels empty, and you bump into a group opportunity more by chance and random fluke than anything else, Might as well play a solo offline game.

I really enjoyed this server while global ooc was one, now much less so.

I am an off peak player myself and I hve to say that it indeed got harder to find a group and interact with the low spread population on the server.

Then again, using "/who all", "/friend" and "/tell" to the fullest might work out for most seasoned players, like myself, to prevent the bad effects of removing the global chats.

EC is worthless tho in off peak hours or even in EU peak hours. Global auction raises the availability of items on the market and makes sure the economy really flows in game. Then again the Tunnel is of course a great nostalgic thing.

I am personally most worried that new players will consider the game world too empty and leave the server with a higher probability now that globals are removed.

I would love to see a /World optional chat added, that is world-wide at all times. Just toggle it on at off-hours and there we go! :D

I won't disagree with your off-peak stuff, I play during all different hours of the day and I just always farm during that time because trying to group is hit or miss. However, about the new players, I've started two alts since the removal, and having people for free buffage in EC tunnel is a boon to new players. Also having random druids/shaman go to Orc1 and buff people is something that'll make those new players stick around IMO.

I'd really like to see chat channels implemented again.

its hard to find a group? /who all zone,

its hard to find replacements? /who all lfg (add class if u are searchin for specific classes)

hard to find stuff to buy? try on weekends as i do being an off peak player myself

IF you still have a hard time to find groups by doing the above, then you should start questioning your socializing skills or go play a singleplayer game as u stated already yourself

I hear what you're saying but putting global chat in the game again will force everyone to use them, because people will stop auctioning and going lfg in the normal routes again. Which means we've got to listen to mandatory douche baggary to get groups.

I was forced to level trade skills up for various quests on my characters because sitting in EC for days looking for someone willing or even just someone with the skillz was futile and a waste of my play time.

I play for accomplishment, not to sit around a zone, spamming something and hoping that one of these days someone might respond to my spam and help me out. I don't see how that makes the game any more fun or challenging?

Yes, ooc as it is now is classic, but lets go further then... if you want a classic game, why don't we med with our spell books open up till level 35? Come on people, there are TONS of aspects to the game that aren't classic - why should this MINOR aspect be changed to suit this??? OOC should be changed back to global as it was, because this world is a LOT smaller and frankly, a lot less fun due to time constraints. It was easy for any of you to disable OOC and make use of shout.

I see the pros and cons but It does feel empty during off-peak hours, even as a porter who can pretty much go to lavastorm/Guk as i please to check on groups, its an annoyance.

Are those channels Rog was working on on the test server will ever be implemented? I thought it was the idea, kill global OOC but add channels we can decide to join or not.

It is the year 2010. People generally have computers powerful enough to run EQ in windowed mode while having an IRC client up. The IRC #project1999 channel can replace global OOC if everyone really wanted it to. Yes, it's a tad more inconvenient to switch out of window and ask/respond to something, but since obviously it's game-breaking for some of you to not have some sort of global chat, I would think that would be a minor inconvenience.

Other than that:

/who all unrest
/who all oasis
/who all crushbone

/who all LFG
/who all 10 20 LFG

send tells, make friends, stop being anti-social, maintaining a good rep is important now

Use these forums for WTS/WTB... you don't even have to be online to advertise!

There are workarounds... once people get desperate enough, they'll get used more often.