It started off so well, no lag, no crashes, nothing, was going nicely. Then I enter a system, server doesn't respond, I close client, restart and hey its working again, but the most laggy experience I've ever had, totally unplayable. Then due to the server 'maintenance' yet more time gone and I have a job/life so can't sit there waiting for its return like so many others do. My computer more than meets the requirements and due to the fact that it was working perfectly first time, I know that it is not my pc or connection. I pray to god that you at cryptic realise that you will have far far more people logging in soon and that it's obvious to make sure the server capacity is up to it, you're gonna have one truck-load of complaints soon otherwise.

Hint- A head-start is for more than just letting people out-level new players. It's for a basic idea of the influx of people that are going to play so they can set their server accordingly to handle the load without needlessly overcompensating.

I believe that's what an open beta is for.

That said, lag and crashing at launch happens every time with an MMO launch, as the guy above said.

Open beta is more for testing bugs, missions and the like. A head start is only around for a few days, and it has the incentive of allowing you to keep your progress in order to get as many people in at one time as possible so they can get an idea of how many people exactly they can assume will join during launch.