Only sword on the table, but i noticed a marked increase on drops from mobs in the intro. I got like 5 different starter weapons and two decent pieces of starter gear. I have usually only gotten that awesome 1 gold drop last few times.

Exactly. It's intended to limit the size of the queue by getting people who only want to play solo, craft, or explore or a bit out of the way since they don't need the social features of the primary server.

Awesome idea.