Sea of Thieves' Stormy Start

Sea of Thieves is now officially available for Windows 10 and Xbox One, but not everyone who bought Rare's nautical adventure game is getting out of port. I experienced this personally as part of a group of four who could not play, as all we got from several hours of trying to join servers was a collection of rejection messages from Captain Cinnamonbeard. This tweet says they are working on making the playing experience "optimal," though at this point it would be a vast improvement for some of us just to have a playing experience of any sort. Word is:
For those playing and those joining we are continuing to work on improvements to the game in order to ensure the playing experience will be optimal. Please be patient as we are working on updates.