@Escew @Goronmon too true. My brother was one of the first on our pvp server to do most of the hunter ‘epic’ quest in classic (rng screwed him out of the onyxia synew tho, so he lost the race). Everyone knew his name, and other hunters from both factions sought him out on how to beat the demons.
You had a reputation and if you were an ass, you stopped getting groups and guilds. If you were good that mattered too. Community and identity died for convenience.