Why do Vanity items / Player housing / Pets exist?

[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.

[ZephyrK]

I honestly thought the original post was a troll attempt.

FFXIV is a "Theme Park MMO." If you've ever been to a theme park, you would know you aren't interested in everything it has to offer, but there's probably something that interests you a great deal. I believe this what they are going for.

If you were expecting an ARPG out of FFXIV, that is not part of this game's design. It is laser focused on nothing.

[Jess_Spark]

A Sandbox game, by design, is a game where the player is free to explore the world, create their own content, and impact the world around them. There is little to no set goals other than what the player makes for themselves. The content they create can be shared with the other players of the game and the impact they make on the world is felt and shared by all. The content creation, and ability to share it, are pretty much the defining feature of a Sandbox MMO.

There has only been a handful of truly Sandbox games. Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies (pre NGE era), The Repopulation, and to an extent EVE are most common examples.

Correct. That is what this game does and will do even more in the future. That's what makes this game awesome. I will play this game for years because it is Sandbox.

[Renik]

Correct. That is what this game does and will do even more in the future. That's what makes this game awesome. I will play this game for years because it is Sandbox.

It's not a sandbox, just having most content as instanced disqualifies ARR as sandbox, this game has a long way before it can be called a "sandpark", so it's really far from being a sandbox, housing is a minor detail.

[Tahldon]

Wow. Well isn't this just the heated topic of the day.

I don't know OP, I rather like it when Kidragora follows me around while I do botany. It used to be so lonely... The only company I used to have were those Efts... and for some reason... they just kept trying to kill me...

[Bufkus]

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.

Except that this is a p2p mmo, so your point is nonexistent. Nobody is being bled dry here by this optional content.

[Bufkus]

I see that only three people in this thread really 'get it'.

EDIT: and what 'IT' is, that you all seem to be missing.... The op isn't saying take all of those things out, not at all. He is saying the resources, at this point and time, would be better spent elsewhere. The thing is, you guys will defend your vanity items tooth and nail, yet you will go into another thread, and say the responsiveness is killing the game, and that they need more instance servers, blah blah blah.

The OP is absolutely right. At this current time, the resources need to be focused elsewhere. Disagreeing is pure hypocrisy.

No, the OP and you are absolutely wrong. You have no idea what their resource allocation is like. They could easily work on both vanity content and fixing bugs. Please, stop trying to dictate to Square Enix what they should do. You have absolutely no idea what their development process is like.

You are in the overwhelming minority here.

[Tupsi]

Except that this is a p2p mmo, so your point is nonexistent. Nobody is being bled dry here by this optional content.

Except you have people who look for games that cater to their likes - lots of people join MMOs based on their housing system or if they have a viable pet system/vanity pet system.

[Malkavianqueen]

My question is, why is catering to casual players a BAD thing if it extends the game's lifespan? The people who leave the game are the ones who get burned out on it by sitting and grinding out the content in a week and then lose interest, only to resub when the new raids or whatever come out...And then leave again. By adding fun content like vanity items, pets, and housing (and minigames!) it allows for different methods of play and different things to strive for and DO. This means a more diverse playerbase and longevity in the long run, especially for crafters who right now are primarily only able to sell to other crafters.

I hate the mindset of casual = bad. Some of us have lives. Some of us like to have other things to do in games than fight mobs all day. I like to have my characters look pretty, have pets to follow me around and have a cute house to show off my things and sense of style. =D

[DokutoruGwydion]

Social aspects are fun for people. Having a FC house with me and my buds and decking that sucker out sounds like fun to all of us.