I don't think I've seen anyone, no matter how die-hard, old-school, hardcore EQ fan, who has thought this is a good idea to go back to. So congrats for that.
You're right, though, one of my strongest memories was going LD at the entrance of Seb and not being able to get back on until the wee hours when most of my guilds/friends weren't online. It was awesome not being able to play at all if I didn't happen to have a porting friends who couldn't sleep, which I didn't. Sending random tells to strangers at 2am really is the height of socializing. I know, my bad, should have made more friends with the Japanese guilds who didn't speak any English!
So, yes, let's please go back to that. Melee shouldn't have any gate spells or Pantheon will just be another WoW clone!