imo all this is just a beta still. You cant say its a smooth launch when the game has not officially launched yet. Also they are taking down the severs right before launch so when they come back up they are just going to get flooded again. To me this looks like a way were they can test their sever's out some more before the big day hits.
Also it probably is not the smoothest way to start a game. By making a lot of people angry. Now, if something else happens it just adds to the fire.