[0.10.1b] Failed to connect to instance

I am having this exact problem. I can't play due to this error. It is a recent occurrence but I have noticed a few patterns.
1) Running MSI Afterburner shows me that if my framerate continues to fluctuate during a loading screen, I will be disconnected. Conversely, if the framerate indicator shows no movement, i will connect.
2) Connecting to town seems to be more likely than other areas. Other areas are nearly 100% chance of failure.
3) On the occasion that I make it into town and then docks, I can never successfully teleport back to town, and while I am in the failed teleport, my character is vulnerable to remaining monsters in the area. (I can still hear things like frenzy charges expiring, enemies attacking etc. before I d/c)
4) Changing firewall settings doesn't work, reinstalling doesnt work, disabling hamachi doesnt work, trying other gateways doesn't work.

It's the same for me. I started trying to play PoE a couple weeks ago and it's been 95+ % of the time I get the "Fail to connect to instance" message. I'm really surprised that GGG doesn't seem to think that this is an issue worth addressing, but they push another 3 cosmetic effects out in the last patch and that that was the sole purpose of the patch. I'd hope that they're smart enough not to alienate their player base to the point where they get a bad reputation.

Patch is now 0.10.1g patch and it is still occurring, i signed up for 75% magic find not 75% chance to not be able to play.

Same issue. I can't join parties because of it. What's the deal?

Game is just about 100% unplayable. I'm at a boss fight I can not solo. I can't even break his energy shield. Every group I join I get "Failed to connect to instance" regardless of method of entry. I can't waypoint, portal, or just walk. On US gateway.

This is getting ridiculous. I've spent more time not playing and waiting for a fix than I have spent actually playing the game. I really like the game, but this is simply not playable. It's been going on for about a week for me now*. I had no problems and then it just suddenly cropped up. Nothing changed on my end, but I did update. Why isn't this fixed yet? Can I at least get assurances that you know it's a problem and you're working on sorting it out?

*Edit: Actually closer to a month. Time sure does fly when you're waiting on a fix.

still occurring for me as well... why has this shit not been addressed yet ?

Not sure if this is the correct place to put this, but I just died in the 1-week HC race due to my load screen going to Terrace getting stuck.

I finish Act 3 normal, start Cruel, Kill Hill, Empty Bags in town, click on Terrace. Load screen comes up. After about 10 secs, I try and kill the PoE application via task manager. Nothing happens. I try again, same. I try computer reset, nothing happens because PoE up still hung up. I hold the power button on my computer. Computer reboots. I re-log and I'm in the default league.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, or there were mobs right at the entrance and the server thought I was in the zone, but my client crashed in such a way that the server thought I was still playing. In either case, I don't think I should have died.

I was only rank 950ish and didn't really have time to make a push to top 500 to get 1 LP, however, I was hoping to finish the race alive.

The main issue here is, I play 95% in the Hardcore League and now I'm afraid to enter a zone. I have 1 50ish character, 1 30ish, about 5 20ish characters from races, and I've never got stuck on the load screen.

I have been thinking about buy a SSD so I could be more competitive in the 1 hour races because my load screen does take 1 to 5 seconds to load.

I am NOT asking for my character back to a different league, I just think this is a BUG and should be fixed. If people start losing high end characters to bugs like this, they are not gonna be happy.

I totally blame myself for playing so much in a HC league on patch day.

If anyone has any information or tips to prevent this from happening in the future, please let me know. Thank You.

Update:

After some searching on the forums, I found the information about the Pack Check.

I ran the Pack Check and it said File is corrupt. So, I deleted it and re-launched. Currently downloading.

The interesting thing, was I had been playing the game for probably 3 to 4 hours in a row with no issues. So the file was fine earlier, or maybe I just did not trigger the faulty part.

Does the PoE application run this Pack Check when you click the Launch button and warn you if there is a problem, or should I run it manually before logging in everyday?

Thanks.

I can usually get into Lionseye outpost, but when I try to leave town I get booted every time. Very frustrating. I'm on an American server, but I have tried other servers. I tried the packcheck and everything was fine. Still no play.