Why do Vanity items / Player housing / Pets exist?

[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.

[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?

[Cigaran]

Most of these things that keep the player enjoying and engaged with the game during times when the player has finished all the content that they wish to do while waiting on new content.

As far as player housing goes, I've played games where the community that grew up around the housing aspect of the game is what kept many of them playing when they admittedly would have canceled their accounts without that element. Typically in an MMO, the average player is going to invest a ton of time playing over the life of the title. That player is going to become attached to the game world and the character(s) they play in that world. Giving options to customize part of the world around them gives the player that much more of a connection and new ways to identify with their characters. The same really goes for vanity items but on a personal level as opposed to the community aspect of housing.

Pets are a similar idea in that it offers the player a goal they can set and work towards outside of the normal content of the game. Maybe you want to get every last Minion possible. Maybe your goal is only to collect those that are a nod towards classic Final Fantasy elements. Maybe you only go after those found in Gridania. The whole point is, it's allowing the player to customize their game experience, set their own goals, and to then have a reward for attaining those goals.

The long and short of it is that many, if not most, players will eventually tire of the quest-kill-quest cycle that every MMO is made up of. By offering alternatives to that such as housing, crafting, collecting minions, or what have you, you offer a way for the player to remain playing and enjoying the game when they would have otherwise closed their account and moved on to a new game.

TL;DR

Some of us tire of the endless kill-loot-kill mentality and would like an alternative to that that allows us to remain playing a game we like. While you see this as a waste of resources, the same could be said about the upcoming PvP system. Regardless though, every aspect of the game should be represented for the player base to enjoy.

[Mezolitik]

Final Fantasy is about exploring, killing monsters, leveling up and gearing your character, not building a house. You cannot deny that.

Yes, but MMOs are about casual endeavours, mini games, and dressing up.

People play open world games for different reasons, and obviously SE has to respect that. IMHO, killing monsters, gearing your character, and levelling is pretty dull in FFXIV; it's the other stuff (mounts, minions, houses, crafting, gathering, etc.) that keep me playing.

[shadowrell_d-_-b]

Final Fantasy is about exploring, killing monsters, leveling up and gearing your character, not building a house.

Wrong, first off every final fantasy is different and give new things to do in the game beyond just lvling and killing monsters (this is fact so don't dare deny it) from various systems of character development to even in game minigames like card games, sports ect. FF games are about enjoying a world far different from the last but with those same little things that bring back a familiar feel!

you obviously aren't a hardcore FF fan or else this would be a no brainer to you! as for FFXIV this game is also about more than mindless lvling and monster grind, to high gear aswell some ppl just want to lvl crafts and not fight mobs at all, they want to kick back rake in a lot of gil and enjoy their time in a huge mansion with every little vanity and craft they can aquire, I don't see anything wrong with that!

edit: people really need to relax the game is just been released and clearly in the stages of adding more options and things to do for everyone to enjoy! allow the Dev's to do what we are paying them to do and make this game as big and amazing as we all know it can be!

[Jingai]

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.

HOW exactly did she prove your point? Because she plays the game the way SHE WANTS to play it? The game is designed to be whatever WE want it to be. To go and do what WE want. It's her money she spends each month to play it, it's her right to have nice things or make a house if she wants. The same as it's mine to do with with my monthly subscription, or you or anyone elses.

If you want to play a game where all you do is wander and fight monsters, go pick up a damn hack n' slash and play that. The developers put things in this game for everyone to do in any way they choose. If I want to spend my day just fishing by a waterfall, well...that's what I'm damn well going to do.

[Molly_Millions]

Because people enjoy different things in games. Not everyone is all battle all the time.

[Razzle]

I'm the player type the OP listed, who likes the vanity, housing and pets (just cause I like nonsense and doing things just for fun even if it means my chaarcter won't "z0mg progress" through it...).

It's like decorating your work office in real life, putting some plant pots on the desk, and some family pictures. You decorate your character just to for fun, it doesn't have much meaning, just gives a funner atmosphere. And hurts no one.

I'd like to add that you're wrong about housing though, YoshiP said somewhere that he has plans for it later on, functional decorations that may help our characters in some way (maybe like extra storage?), Chocobo raising, maybe some gathering too... So it's not completely vanity-fun-time...

So you don't like X type of content, that's why you will also get Y type of content which you do like, but doesn't mean players that like X type of content shouldn't get theirs...

[Bichcat]

I LOVE player housing. I spent hundreds of hours working on my houses in EQ2. The big question for me is, can they top the EQ2 player housing.....not likely, but I'm exicted to see them try.

[Nuinn]

I'm a bit confused o_O I'll admit that. No ill thoughts meant but from the OP I felt like reading about some bizarre new features thing being introduced to the MMO market. Took me back in time. . . .

I'm soft when not excited and I'm excited both about the battle aspect of this game as well as all the vanity additions, which is to say - always
It started because people want more different experiences from a single game than getting a quick fix of either action or casual from different sources.

Also, there's never "me" in MMOs, no matter what the devs tell us, it's always "them" and the money. These feats bring more money as they cater to a wider variety of people. If you (or rather, all of us) can enjoy them, great. Otherwise just cross your fingers that they provide your taste buds with enough sugar of your own liking in equal quantities as well.