This implementation is still a drastic improvement, yet players apparently feel so entitled that they can shoot them down for coming up with it.

*press hotkey*
*enter message*
*press hotkey*

Total number of buttons pressed is actually lower than if you typed "/ls# chat message" by 2 buttons. On top of this, if you want to send multiple messages, that's even more keypresses saved:
this is 3 actions not one. and while it maybe 2 buttons less it's also alot slower and more cumbersome. the generic idea is that i want to be able to talk to my linkshells faster. and a simple /l1 your message here is a lot faster than pressing hot key waiting for ls to change type /l your message here then pressing another hotkey.

which if you really look at it it's actually more key presses. not less.

hotkey2
/l your message
hotkey1

as opposed to /l2 your message or even /ls2 your message. but no matter how different the keystrokes are 1 action is a lot less hassle than 3.

making a 3 step action is just saying how can we make a simple idea more complicated than it needs to be