So my alt account’s purge meter filled and it was clear I’d be getting purged tonight. Since there’s only an hour window between when I get off work (5pm) and when purge hours start (6 pm), I rush home and get logged in, turning volume up to max, so I can hear if the purge horn sounds while I’m having dinner.
Having finished eating, I get back to my PC, find that the camera is rotating around my character, and the moment I touch my mouse (thus regaining control), the purge horn sounds and I’ve got only ONE MINUTE left on the countdown! Yes, for some reason, the game decided not to sound the purge warning horn while I was AFK! I’d highly recommend changing that behavior!
Anyway, I quickly run around doing last minute prep (read: getting on Steam voice chat, swapping out thrall weapons for trunches), and I get done just as the first enemies get close enough to get clubbed. Last-second save!
First wave goes down and says “regrouping”, I get a purge taskmaster, all seems right with the world.
Second wave starts, allied players are starting to head my way, but there’s no enemies anywhere. I go scouting around and find that one of the neighbors I’d previously posted has decayed, so there’ no base in about 300-400 meters from me. About the most I see is a couple deer, which I slaughter just-in-case.
As I’m looping back, that’s when I see the antlers of an Elk King protruding from the base of the mountain on the SW side of Riversend. Since I like to be helpful, I start recording, get about 5-10 seconds of footage, and then Conan decides to crash-to-desktop with a Fatal Error. >.<
Restart game, try to get in, and it tells me my ping is too high. First time I have EVER gotten that message. E V E R ! My ping everywhere else is 25-50 in any game I play.
Reboot PC, same message.
Restart router, same message.
All other server in the browser have normal ping times, so I filter by Officials in the #150x range and ALL of the #150x servers (which presumably share the same physical host) are above 160.
While this is going on, my clanmate (whom I’m still on voice with) reports that the server is chugging, and other players are complaining. He also informs me that someone else has called for backup because they have a purge starting, meaning that mine has thus ended. 
On my alt account, that makes 3 times in a row and more than 2 weeks worth of time and effort since I moved from New Asagarth to Riversend. If you count my primary character, it’s been 5 or 6 purges that have malfunctioned in 3 different locations.
I really hope that this gets sorted out soon, because the Purge is one of the main reasons I play this game, and it’s certainly the most exciting event we get on PvE servers. I suppose once I can finally get back on my server I’ll start scouting yet another new location for a purge base, because Riversend is clearly flawed beyond hope. A shame too, because it’s such a pretty location. 
Also, make the purge horn sound even if the player is AFK! People have biological needs!
NOTE: After about 2-3 hours, I relaunched Conan and the 150x servers were once again pinging normally. Managed to help some friends out with a Frost Giant purge on the ridge north of the Barrow King (NW B11). It went longer than 5 waves, but was challenging and enjoyable. Thankfully everything there spawned on the ground, so in spite of being steeper, perhaps the groundmesh there is less complex than at Riversend. Maybe comparing the two locales would provide some insight.