Instead I waited a couple hours, and the server stopped crashing my client. Why: because wasting time wiping settings rarely ever fixes anything. While I might try it and then immediately restore from backup when it usually fails to solve anything, I could not even be bothered expending that level of effort here as an initial troubleshooting step. I simply watched some Star Trek, then returned later and tried again. The online software service equivalent of turning a device off and on again
http://youtu.be/PtXtIivRRKQ
If I sound disenchanted with the all too predictable 'nuke and pave' suggestions of support in virtually every MMO and frankly any software support, it is because I am. If I had wiped my settings every time SOE or [insert MMO company here] support suggested I do so, I'd have spent more time re-creating my UI, than actually playing in the past decade and a half.