I was checking out some zones that didn't look like valid "playable" zones, and came across this.
Try this on your server: Notice anything familiar?
http://eq2.mmoemulators.com/files/char_create.jpg

This sort of 'technique' was seen with Half-Life 2 also. If you've ever played the game, you would know that a map (.bsp) would load before initializing the main menu and then use that as a backdrop for the UI.
The same seems to be done here. So the client just loads a zone (In this instance character_create) and moves the player's viewport (camera) in the same location you are now.

That was a bit out of line link. Just because you don't find this particularly useful doesn't mean that everyone doesn't. I also thought it was neat the first time I zoned into the zone (which was before I added flymode so it was much more difficult).