What is the purpose of setting metric to 254 in DR mode?

[lstep@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hello,

I'm trying to understand why do one set the metric of the localhost interface 
to 254 (according to the doc found on 
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/LVS_with_HA_for_Win2k_Terminal_Servers) 
when configuring a W2K realserver's loopback in a Direct Routing mode?

If I don't do this what problem(s) may I get?

Thanks,
Luc