There's lag and there's lag. Situations where the whole of Northern Grasslands, for example, go into red lag have nothing to do with loading new armour/content.
Something is seriously amiss when this happens repeatedly and either results in a freeze for anything up to a minute or a complete disconnection with the character server for everyone affected.
I have not read anything from FC other than the fact they're aware of this but since it's been a 'feature' since I started playing the game nearly two years ago I'm not exactly hopeful anything will be done to rectify it once and for all.
It can't just be about servers otherwise fire the hosts and find some company that can deliver.