The server is full, try again later (1017)

[Axiom]

Wrong. They had an overflow system. You weren't necessarily playing with your friends all the time, but there was practically never a time where you were locked out from playing.

You're right, and most other MMO's had a good queue system. But the issues were still the same.
I can understand why everyone is so pissed off, but SE just didn't expect it to be so busy. They did put in a queue system but I think it caps at 60.

I think they're increasing the capacity right now as the servers are down completely for me. That's what they did this morning and they worked fine after that.