At TFS, by default, if I create a new character, go grab some exp, items and log out and in back I will continue from where I stoped, but if the server crashes nothing will be saved. It's like it store the progress in the memory while it's up, but need a proper save, like a daily server save to really save it.
edit
Just tested it, it actually don't happen as I described. What I think is weird, since players can easily abuse it if they discover a crash bug. Player X pass his valuable item for Player Y, Player Y relog to save his character, they crash the server, both Player X and Y have a copy of the item after it.