I haven't read everyone's comments but I wanted to point out a couple of things. During the test version, I did not have any memory type issues.
The biggest problem that I have had with the patch version occured today, where all sort of warps and discoes were present. I did a ping plotter test on my connection and found that the internet itself was wacky today for some reason. I just checked again this morning and the ping times are a third less and also showing 0 errors.
I am about to log on and test my theory that what many are reporting as problems with the patch may actually be related to the internet lag, or system or game settings. To prove me wrong try ping plotter test whenever you have a noticeable difference in your game play performance. Also, try settings that are not mentioned a lot but have effects on game performance when systems tend to be overloaded.
Try these: disable plane skins for others, disable clutter in flight, turn performance sliders to the right. Antialiasing in video settings can be scaled back to middle range and still give pretty smooth graphics. A ton of other settings but for the most part turn everything off and work backwards to get to where you can trade off visual effects for performance.
