The public quests sound nifty. I think the way the loot is distroed is anyone who meets some very low minimum threat level on the PQ will get a roll of 1-1000 at the end, the UI will automatically roll for you at the end of the quest.

The more you contribute, the more chance you have to score loot. Just being involved will net you a roll however, and my buddy on the preview weekend got #1 rank from tanking (threat level helped we beleive) and ended up getting some where of an 800 point bonus to his roll, so he rolls 14 and his total is 814, and some guy that was essentially watching the whole thing rolled 9xx, which ended up being the top roll.

I forgot to ask my buddy if the loot was BoE or BoP, but if the PQ loots are BoE, then I could see a very distinct advantage to boxing the PQ's, especially if you have an ok chance at loot.