I only said 90% because it stopped for a few days. It is essentially 100% of the time now again though.

Two methods to have this occur.

1. Play a match. Equip gear either in between waves or at the end before you end the match. 

2. Play a match equip nothing and return to tavern. Whether you equip your gear right after you arrive or quit dd2 completely and return later doesnt seem to matter.

This results in the game finding a session counting down to zero and freezing there or entering a unending load screen.

I do not believe shards are affecting it because i have moved gear around with and without transferring them and it freezes anyways.