As I said before, the reason people are so worried over the implementation of the Brawler's Guild even before it is out is that it actually sounds very cool. (Personally, I think the Alliance version sounds way cooler, because Orcs are already all about proving yourself in combat in giant arenas. The Brawlpub looks way more underground and off the beaten path.)
When new content comes out, the focus is usually toward the serious, endgame content - raids, dungeons, battlegrounds and arenas. However, if you want an example of a patch that brought a whole lot of cool stuff that had nothing to do with those things, look at 3.3, the Hour of Twilight.
3.3 was an enormous patch. It brought in three new dungeons and the final raid of Cataclysm, as well as the enormous development of the Raid Finder.
But what it brought for "just plain fun" content (and I'm aware that it seems strange to distinguish "fun" content from otherwise in a game) was also huge. First the Darkmoon Faire, which had always been one of these things that seemed cool but was really nearly devoid of anything interesting, got expanded tremendously into a monthly event that could help you level your professions but also focused on fun vanity items and also introduced what is probably the very coolest zone in the game - Darkmoon Isle (seriously, I cannot get enough of that place. Sometimes I'll just go there to chill.)
Not only that, it introduced Transmogrification, which has breathed new life into old content to an extraordinary degree. My guild used to run an "Old School" raid every week just to see the stuff we either missed when it was current or felt nostalgic for. With Transmogrification, you have a good reason to go through those places. Not only that, but it led to far greater variance in player appearance. For those of you who perhaps started playing after Wrath of the Lich King, toward the end of that expansion, nearly everyone was totally decked out in a full set of (10-man normal) tier 10 gear, which you could, at the time, buy in its entirety for Emblems of Frost (one of VP's precursors.) While this was a time when it was very easy to get an alt geared up for raiding, it meant that basically everyone of the same class looked alike. Transmog fixes this, allowing us to express personality and such through the gear we wear.
I would like to see more of these features added. New ways in which to give our characters personality. The existence of Transmog is a great way to provide visible rewards without being a necessary progression path. Already, we've got the awesome-looking transmog sets for beating all the Challenge Modes with a gold medal (I sure as hell haven't seen anyone with such a set yet,) and the Shado-Pan helmet transmogs, as well as the Dungeon Sets 1 and 2 lookalikes.
I know the art team is a limited resource, but I would love to see new sets of armor for transmogrification to be created for these new sorts of features.
And I'd like to see more of these features. Places like Brawl'gar Arena and Bisto's Brawlpub (I might have the names wrong) seem like they'll be cool hang-out spots. I'd love to see more of these open up, perhaps giving us interesting things to do there.
Take the Speedbarge in Thousand Needles. Back in the day, when the place wasn't flooded, there was a racetrack on the salt flats. I'd love to see a boat-racing hub there.
Or Gallywix's Pleasure Palace. As of yet, there's nothing to do there (and Gallywix remains nowhere to be seen,) but you could imagine having mini-games and such there.
These don't all have to be mini-games, either. I think it would be really, really cool to have some neutral city where you engage in espionage against the other faction. Hell, I would love for there to be something to do at the max level in the Ruins of Gilneas.
This, combined with pets, mounts, titles, and now transmog gear would do a great deal to make the world a more lively place.
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