Sounds like you guys are referring to what you're using to translate registrations into new accounts and character files on the server. I'm guessing the server this was running on had subpar code that probably wasn't optimized at all? It must have just been logically good enough to perform the task properly.
Network stuff is really easy to screw up in my experience, and network congestion is really quick to happen if things start piling up at all.
I think creating that Facebook group and bringing a ton of extra attention to this, when it was supposed to be a small scale launch, probably helped cause this problem.
Thanks for all the hardwork anyways, and keep it up.