Thank you Error 601
So, apparently the same freaking card I used to pay for FFXI isn't good enough for XIV. Apparently the Visa I use to go on European shopping sprees is also not good enough for FFXIV. So, now I get to sit in line until hopefully before midnight tonight (in the UK) and hope that whomever I speak with is mystically less inept than the system they are being underpaid to babysit.
Way to champion the cause of the monthly billing cycle MMORPG, SE. Why didn't you stick with the Square-Enix account system again? It seemed to take my money just fine. This annoys me far more than a little server congestion, because you broke one of the Commandments of doing good business. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."