I think you're on to something-- for all the greatness of the Clockworks they are the only places you can really go for anything! There's clearly a whole planet to explore, but aside from the tutorial area and Haven we've not gone anywhere. It may sound a bit cliche or overdone, but it's just a simple fact that different locales add something adventurous to a game. The Clockworks are already quite adventurous and varied, but perhaps a few static locations on the surface would be good as well. It could, as Giik says, have far less benefits for the sake of cheaper exploration. Perhaps, since there are (as told in the rescue camp) ravines and such around the planet, there could be some big, labyrinthine complex of pathways on the surface that don't change, but are so complicated and expansive the Knights, being landlocked at the moment, would have a lot of work to do in mapping the thing. That could also explain the lack of other settlements-- the Spiral Order simply hasn't discovered them yet. Of course there could be a few reasons to explore, like different settlements yielding different portions of the Clockworks (sort of like individual continents having different flora and fauna in RL) or some such thing, and like Giik suggested some surface-specific items or something. Maybe there could even be some remote entrance to an expanded version of Vanaduke's citadel or the Jelly Palace!
Also, as a Beta member, I recall there originally being an East Side area to Haven that never opened. I'm not sure if you developers have an idea for that place returning or dropped it all together, but I'll bet there could be a travelling terminal in that now-nonexistant area's future. I'm just speculating as to how it could work, but I can't help but agree with the idea. I'd certainly love to have such a place around for added immersion and depth.

Buy more energy. You should be self sufficient, even with t1 runs.

Well, if they made it cost no energy, then (as you said) there would be little to no rewards (although making it a 'personal achievement' thing would be interesting).

Now, if they wanted to make it cost energy, I imagine we could have a system of trams instead of elevators, since they said that ALL machinery works on energy.

What I think would be interesting is if we had more entry points to the Clockworks in addition to things like normal settlements. The clockworks is shown to be about half the planet across and all the way down to the core, so I imagine we could have some other locations to catch elevators from (they may be abandoned though, seeing as Haven is the only settlement we've actually heard of so far).

I dunno Matoro, that seems awfully typical of any other MMO. Sure, quests could be a good idea, but they would have to be a lot more involved than the typical collect 'n drop sort of thing. I think what you're talking about could work, but if there's gonna be surface level questing it should be directly related to the search for energy to power the Skylark, or some research into the Strangers, or even analyzing Lord Vanaduke's stronghold. Every quest should be long and sprawling, full of developed storyline, is what I mean. Something that's an actual journey-- something that you can't complete in a single day of casual gaming!

I love this idea! I think a one town game gets kinda dull. Exploring is always a good thing to be able to do in any MMO. Tons of MMOs are doing it: WoW, Wizard101, etc. Why not have it in this? One of three rings other games has 2 towns (far as i knew), so why not for this one?