We’re running on an AWS instance, and happy to move to a larger one as required.
A larger aws instance will not resolve the fairly severe client implications
We send json for every category a client has access to on initial payload, categories page can get very painful, hamburger menu, category selector when creating topics and so on
Hmm, interesting.
Since the vast majority of people will only have access to one branch and region, it’s the moderators who will pay this penalty.
Time to fire up a test site, and determine the extent of the problem. A good opportunity to validate our backup procedure too 
(not?) Sorry to bump revive this: how is this endeavor working for you? Is the perf bad?
I’m afraid that due to illness, I’ve not progressed this beyond a dozen branches at the moment.