The lag issue has been around for awhile. I thought it may have been the server at the time. But since they are on a different server with the same issue, its the code. It feels like a memory leak, the garbage builds up in memory and never gets dumped. a reboot of the server clears the memory, and the build up begins again.
I haven't coded in a long time, so I have no idea how difficult that would be to track down.
This game is a hidden gem. It is definitely unique in its design. The early days F2P model was crap. I want to thank the people who are providing this game free of charge to us.