I've given up for today. I got in earlier, then got stuck in a zone with no NPCs and couldn't log out. When I was able to log in, I found myself dead in IronForge entering the portal to the tram (where there was no possibility of being killed). I ghost ran back and it locked up when I tried to res. I haven't been able to get back in since.
The way the servers have been today I don't think I even want to get back in again if I could. With the lag, missing NPCs, missing auctions and mail, I think it would just be a waste of time.
They should just shut the servers down for at least a few hours and try to fix them, instead of bringing them up and down all day.