Why do Vanity items / Player housing / Pets exist?

[Jackl3]

I'd like some insight as to who thought that we all "wet" ourselves in excitement over "cute" pets, mounts, and sunshades.

Stop wasting dev resources in "Player Housing" - Why should I care about a housing area that's just a deliberate attempt at adding more padding to time-consumption. That will have little to no effect to me. Seriously, they fleeced people already by saying "earn an Ahrman pet (that does nothing)" for 90days upfront. - Yeah you can wait but many people paid all upfront.

Why do people ride this horse? - I'd rather they invested this time into creating dark/complex looking Armour weapons.

MMO gamers gone soft? - Is this the norm for Japanese games to include full on vanity, or housing?. What is going on.

Please someone explain the reasoning behind all of this, and why it has started to become a big thing in all MMORPGs?

[Tupsi]

Yoshi himself: Casual gamers. Look at FB or Mobile games and how they try to bleed players dry, because companies know the casual playerbase live for things like this.

[lololink]

Because some people enjoy doing other things than killing poor little monsters that only wants to destroy the world.
Some people like to have a pretty house and catch all the pok....err pets.

[Arriverderci]

Because some people enjoy doing other things than killing poor little monsters that only wants to destroy the world.
Some people like to have a pretty house and catch all the pok....err pets.

This.
I can't wait to have a house in this game. It'll be so much fun.
In many MMO's people have houses, pets, and cute outfits. People invest in it. [AION has a very nice housing area.]
All because you don't want to do anything like that, then don't participate in it. You get dungeons and CT to join the club in 2.1.
This game will be even more boring than it is now, in 2.1. I'm waiting personally on 2.1 for the housing.
We can even craft up things for the house. I just like the lil' fun things. Can't wait for minigames too.
This game needs more stuff on the side or else it gets super duper boring, and people enjoy the lil' things here and there.

Oh and to add, we desperately need vanity slots. We look like trash unless it AF or a set item. Sick of seeing the same generic robes.
I wouldn't mind the slots if not for the lazy design they had with armor in this game.

[Valaskor]

I'd like some insight as to who thought that we all "wet" ourselves in excitement over "cute" pets, mounts, and sunshades.
...
Why do people ride this horse? - I'd rather they invested this time into creating dark/complex looking Armour weapons.

MMO gamers gone soft? - Is this the norm for Japanese games to include full on vanity, or housing?. What is going on.

Please someone explain the reasoning behind all of this, and why it has started to become a big thing in all MMORPGs?

Because this a social game like every MMO is and will ever be. Because its about Friendship and Companions bond by adventures and destiny. Overcoming (not only hardcore) Challenges together ! For FUN It's nice to have a House to relax or earn yourself a cute little pet. All those things ligthen up the everyday life of the Ingame Charakter as well as the World which is meant to an experience in which you can immerse yourself as something different.

Just because you are uber-cool and want "Complex looking Dark Armor" instead of Housing is no reason why you will get it. The problem here is the PS3 RAM shortage (dev confirmed). They have to be careful not to overload the System with too many Armors and Meshes. But i guess this will be lifted when the PS4 version is released as well as the Dx11 update for PC. Just a guess on my side but they could add some sort of "Premium Graphic Client" like Eve Online did.

If you dislike this "soft" content or "casual" content which is by the way very enjoyable i suggest you should play hardcore games and no MMO's. Go try Dark Souls but i guess it's just too lonely for you and too hard.

/Inb4 you look at my gear telling me to grind/farm more before i can talk to a hardcore player like you.

[Drakzen1]

While I cant wait for housing...I love the idea.
It is another way of pushing some inherent problems of arr under the rug.

[BlazeChronic]

I agree with OP.

ARPGs don't have any of that useless stuff and they do just fine, as a genre. There's hundreds of other places where the resources would be better spent, but unfortunately we have to contend with a crowd that wants to collect pets and build houses. Unfortunately for us, there are many people who want that kind of stuff, so they need to dedicate time and money to it. It sucks, but that is what it has come to, in 2013. People rather build houses and collect useless crap then go kill monsters, which is the essence of a Final Fantasy game. Of course, detractors will somehow find a way to invalidate my point, but it is the absolute truth.

Final Fantasy is about exploring, killing monsters, leveling up and gearing your character, not building a house. You cannot deny that. It has been that way since FF1 in 1985. Just because WoW or some other trash game does something, doesn't mean it should find its way into ARR. But we have to live with it now, since that's what "gamers want".

EDIT: I will admit I used the house in XI, being able to grow your own stuff was awesome (millioncorns all day). BUT, it's implementation was very limited, and wasn't as much of a strain on the devs/servers because it was basically like your inn room. An implementation like that, I would be content with. What they are planing is overkill, IMHO.

Of course, detractors will somehow find a way to invalidate my point, but it is the absolute truth.

stuff

Thanks for proving my point. And to answer your question, because the developers efforts would be better spent fixing the myriad of issues that affect the entire playerbase rather than catering to your selfish narcissism.

[Zyltas]

In EQ2 I did two things mainly, worked on decorating a house and guild hall and raided. THe housing can be a great way to spend time using your creativity to decorate it depending on how it is set up, that game had fantastic housing. I am hoping the housing here allow for creativity to be used.

[TeaTimeBear]

Yoshi himself: Casual gamers. Look at FB or Mobile games and how they try to bleed players dry, because companies know the casual playerbase live for things like this.

"Stop liking what I don't like!"

[Enkidoh]

I agree with OP.

ARPGs don't have any of that useless stuff and they do just fine, as a genre. There's hundreds of other places where the resources would be better spent, but unfortunately we have to contend with a crowd that wants to collect pets and build houses. Unfortunately for us, there are many people who want that kind of stuff, so they need to dedicate time and money to it. It sucks, but that is what it has come to, in 2013. People rather build houses and collect useless crap then go kill monsters, which is the essence of a Final Fantasy game. Of course, detractors will somehow find a way to invalidate my point, but it is the absolute truth.

Final Fantasy is about exploring and killing monsters, not building a house. You cannot deny that.

WRONG - in FFVII you could buy President Shinra's summer house in Costa del Sol for 300 000 gil, although it was completely optional (all it did was give you free alternative accommodation to the inn), but it was still a nice thing to have.

And this game is not just about killing monsters and exploring - FFXIV is however the player wants to play it. If that means to some players (like myself! ) having nice clothes and a house, then who are you to complain about that?