Why does it take 10+ attempts before I can log in?

[Midoo]

I crash 80% of times I zone. The game almost always hangs for 10+ minutes then I'm forced to kill it with the task manger.

When I try to log back in, the launcher is stuck after I type my credentials, so I kill it again. But it happens again. And again. And again.

Then by some stroke of luck I finally get to the server sele-- and the server select is completely empty. Won't list a single server. So I ALT+F4 and start the launcher again. Refer to the earlier section.

And then somehow the servers are showing, but now every time I try to log in it just hangs for a minute then says "Error - A timeout occurred." or some other reason that it can't log into the server. Multiple times. So I ALT+F4 again. Back to square two.

And finally, when the fucking stars align after 10 - 15 different reboots and I manage to log into the server, the game crashes when I try to load my character.

But if it doesn't... Back to square one.

Yes, this happens both with and without WinEQ2. I have loading art turned off. My connection works just fine and this never happens on any other game or even on live EQ. I have a high end PC with every driver recently updated. The game is borderline unplayable when I have a short time window because I'd rather do anything else with my little free time than play wrestling with the fucking client.