What is wrong with my 2k2?

[Aestus]

I logged on earlier today before the NPC server crash, and, not liking the stats I had rolled (why can't we just spend attribute points?) for my character, I restarted to make a new one.

I went through the character creation process, and everything was going peachy until I finished. Now, invariably, I find myself at a black loading screen every single time I create a new character. Doesn't matter how long I wait or how many times I reconnect, I can't get past this damn loading screen. What's up?