...just as a random experiment I logged on and created a lvl 7 character and leveled it all the way up on the ship. Ran around a little and then logged. Had not transferred over any copies of a "real" character in more than half a year.
I did not pre-order, or late order, the Shadow expansion.
I'm a VIP also currently encountering the "Failed to queue for server (0x80004005) error.