I have my doubts it's specifically the 'Launcher'. It's a connection problem of some kind. Proxy off (EU) - Same problems as everyone else. Proxy on (US - NY) - Connects just fine, same launcher. What would be lovely, would be if someone actually officially responded regarding the whole thing. I don't think that's too much…
I've, ahem, 'fixed' the issue by connecting via a VPN/Proxy. Which lets face it, is not really a fix. Looks like it's a routing issue or similar somewhere :(