Tried to connect multiple times over the course of the day and each time it took ~5 minutes to authenticate and bring me to the character screen. After reaching the character screen I can’t start a game because the start game button is faded out and it tells me that it’s only available to the party leader even though I’m the only one in the party.
I’ve seen some posts about people unable to get in due to the authentication servers. I can get in albeit slowly, but once I get in I can’t even start a game because I’m not the party leader of my own party.