I finally got the forums up after over an hour of trying. I'd left my zerk logged in overnight for buffs, and when I got on this morning folks were complaining about huge load times, high pings, and spells taking a minute or more to cast. Then I tried to zone into my guild hall. After five minutes, I had to hard restart my computer, because, when EQ hangs at loading, it takes the machine with it.. What the heck is going on?!?
A little more information regarding this: https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/8-24-14-server-connection-issues.213217/ The same group had also affected Blizzard and other companies as well.