So I was playing around with character creation earlier and when I got to the server list for Aether, 7 servers were locked. Seven, out of 13. More than half of the Aether datacenter is locked right now and some of the servers which are locked don't even appear as locked on SE's own lodestone post!

There cannot be this many new players right now, and I'm beginning to suspect that group of 20-30 lalafell Black Mages all wearing the same gear, appearing and disappearing in front of the Ul'dah Aetheryte is somehow involved...