Definitely agree with you on this.
One thing that's always amazed me is why Funcom didn't implement the chatsystem with the same features as they did back in AO (custom channels for guild alliances etc). The chat-systems in the two games are for all intents and purposes identical in their basic operation, yet in AoC they removed so much useful functionality.
Yet one of my many boggles when it comes to AoC...