Where does this happen at? The end bosses in dungeons seem to have a "You must gather your party to continue" swirly thing, then you are shown a cut scene of the boss with your group in the boss room.
It only one shots things for a couple levels (maybe an hour of gameplay at most). I replaced it at level 17 with something better. It was a nice boost for the start, but thats it. I think part of it is because your weapon is such a major source of your damage output.
Its been working for me too other than a few bugs and auction hall lag. Im going to have like 10-20 loot chests and a new shirt by the time I get a chance to log back in.
Everything seems to be reclaimable forever for all characters for the packs except the starter pack which is one of each of the items it offers (bag, adventurers kit and amulet). GIANT ARMORED SPIDER MOUNT (for all your characters).
Even in beta there were 2 coins, Ardent and Celestial (sp?). They are both for daily, but Ardent is for consecutive daily. Celestial just stacks up. Or maybe i switched the names, there are 2 anyway.