It should be no surprise to anyone that the authentication servers are having issues lately - the servers themselves may be running fine, and perhaps you have a few friends whom you know are connected and playing, yet you can't get past login.  Or perhaps your server doesn't even appear on the server list when you do manage to log on.  Well, Eyonix has made a post in the general forums providing some clarification on the problem.  Apparently last night's troubles were due to a hardware failure, and because the failure occurred during peak playing hours, all players will be receiving a day's credit to their account.  However, while the hardware failure was fixed, we should continue to expect slow logins during peak hours.  However, there is hope - they should soon be moving to an improved authentication platform, which should reduce the login lag.  No ETA on this system, but at least it's coming.