The DZ will have "missions" (and "events") as well. So the only real difference to Manhattan is the location and that the DZ feels more MMO'y because there's random people.
Also there was a word going around of a DZ mode for the whole map, not sure if that was just a rumor or legit info.
It was me who originally said that. And there was no "rumour": I simply said "wouldn't it be cool if, as a special public event, they turned the whole map DZ" and then some other guy misunderstood me and replied saying "public DZ events are confirmed", which has nothing to do with what I said.
Basically: the whole-map DZ thing is not at all on the cards and was simply a musing by me. A cool, but pipedream, idea.
You could see other players in the Safehouse?
Never happened to me
Not the safehouse; Camp Hudson.
When you walk through to where the first vendors are, you can see people running about/talking to vendors/doing dumping jacks.
Very Dark Souls. I love it. Hope there's more stuff like that in the full overworld.