infinite load screen issue

had this issue since mercenary league start, never had any issues with the game, was running fine in settlers & phrecia league.

every several instance would not load, gears would turn in loading screen but 0ms. game is otherwise still playable but just requires restarting every now and then.

only changes i've made to my setup since phrecia was replacing my router but internet seems fine for everything else.

i've tried:
- changing dns to google & cloudflare from default isp on router & pc
- fresh install from standalone poe -> steam poe
- tried various launch options (--waitforpreload, --noasync)

drivers & windows are up to date, using nvidia + intel, ssd is healthy based on tests