Reputation is dramatically improved in .42, like holy shitbats improved.
*Dance my ass off in my home town, everyone is amazed, random people in town I "know" but never spoke to ask if I'm still dancing
*Move to another town, dance my ass off, get a name for myself there
*Wander around the world doing different stuff, tomb-robbing, beating up monstarz, busting up bandit robberies
*Walk into a town I've never entered before, people call out to me as I'm walking by and ask if I'm still dancing
*Holy shit, I'm actually famous!
Works the other way, I had a town that ended up with no shop signs, everyone spitting at me, all that because I accidentally killed someone while trying to dance when a brawl broke out, despite clearing out the zombie yeti and vampire infestations (well, the yetis helped with one vampire, but that's beside the point) everyone was just pissed about me accidentally punching that one dude in the brain. Literally had to leave town to find anything to do but get spit at or decide to try to slaughter a massive metropolis in retribution.
This update though, the thing I see the most promise in is the books, I can see it winding up where your civs actually learn how to do all their shit during world-gen, some wind up further ahead in various areas than others, information and cultural exchange are as important as goods and services, espionage fits in nicely, plus hey, you could do things like learn new skills or improve ones you know by reading books on them!