Here is an idea I posted on alt.games.everquest newsgroup. The few replies
it generated were all positive. Let me know what you think and maybe it is
something else we can post on the official EQ message board.

I would like to see a new /who command added to the game. The command would
work like this. You type in /who "zone name" and it tells you who all is in
that zone. As it stands right now, you can only find out who is in the zone
you are currently in. This command would be a tremendous benefit to every
player in the game, especially those without teleport and gate capabilities.
Here is a prime example of its usefulness. You log in to play and are in
Highpass. Not much action there so you decide you want to go to either
Cazic Thule or Permafrost. Getting to Cazic requires you to cross six
zones. Getting to Perma requires you to also cross six zones. If you are a
class that has to run the entire distance, lets assume its gonna take you
about 30 minutes to get to either place. You decide to go to Permafrost but
when you arrive there isn't anyone in their for you to group with. You just
wasted at least an hour of playing time (30 minutes to get there plus the
time to now run to Cazic). Time spent needlessly running is not fun, no
matter which class you play.

A /who command that allowed you to see the zone population of zones outside
the zone you are presently in would prevent a situation like this occuring.
While still in Highpass, you type in /who permafrost. You could then send
/tell messages to someone in the zone near your level to see if you can join
their group. If you don't have luck with Permanfrost, you can then type in
/who cazic and try there.

I can't think of any way this would affect any class balance issue.
Assuming that class balance is not affected in any manner by adding this
/who command, the only reason I can think of to not implement it is that it
is too hard to code.

Comments?

Galtin of E'ci