One of these features is 'featured rooms.' Featured rooms can replace an empty room and contain a special feature. Examples of featured rooms include easy access to select merchants, services and even peaceful hang out spots such as a snipe garden. You're still free to decorate a featured room, but they tend to include special props and decorations on their own.

If basil was available for Temporary purchase in the Guild hall post update, and required upkeep to keep him there, would you be "for" or "against" this?

Being good at Spiral Knights or "working for it" has nothing to do with getting boss recipes in the clockworks via Basil, you could waste as much time as you want looking for recipies in the clockworks and its entirely possible that you would never find what you needed. That's not fun, it isn't key, it isn't interesting, its just aggrivateing. No one likes "working" or "putting effort into something" unless its meaningful and basil doesn't work like that.

I feel like a much better example of "working for something then getting rewarded" is the way the shadow lairs work with the sanctuary alchemy machine. You complete something difficult, then you get something cool. Basil is designed such that "you invest x amount of time and energy and you get to utilize the service I provide or buy the goods I have -sometimes-." It really isn't grinding either, if you're grinding in a game you know you're at least getting something out of it. I can kill cows all day in Runescape for next to nothing but I can still be damn sure I'm getting it.