During launch, we faced many of these problems aswell. Luckily, the day after, everything was just fine :-)

I really like the expansion so far! I was afraid of too much sand, but that didn't happen. Atleast there's enough to catch your eye besides the sand. I also like the mounts, which I didn't think I would. So far, the PvE content has been good enough to not send me back to WvW, where my heart really lies.