Yes, I was just about to post this same thing. It's annoying even when there isn't a major launch event like now, and it only happens once or twice, as opposed to over and over and over and over again as it does now. Either make it so that the launcher doesn't let me log in at all; or make it so that once my credentials are accepted and I "get in", the game stays on the title screen until I explicitly exit. Fetching the data center list and actually connecting to them should be an entirely separate process that does not affect the running of the software itself - sure if I can't connect, I can't play, but once obvious communication does happen and my login details check out valid, I see no reason why any sort of connection should be needed for me to tinker with settings or watch movies. Or, y'know, actually exit the app myself.

On a sidenote: any chance of an option to set a "favourite" data center manually? Mine's still stuck on Chaos, even though I moved to Aether more than a month ago and mostly play on and log out from there. That extra step of having to select another data center every single time is frustrating - and in such a case as this, it also presents one extra step for the connection to fail.