I'm playing on blue, admittedly haven't spent much time around the tunnel on low levels begging for buffs but what you're describing hasn't been my experience. I would stand near entrance and ask in /say and if that's not successful find a druid or whatever and send them a polite message. And realistically nobody's going to sit and watch a low level get smacked around if they can help it. EC is the last place where you should expect people to be alert at their keyboards.
If you expected it to be the same as '99, it's not, but it's not a hostile place either. Ask any Dial a Port or Castle, etc. player you see for buffs for a newbie and see what happens. And consider joining a social guild before you quit the game and find something productive to do with your time.
|