Some people have interests other than glamour or getting items. I'm interested in this kind of thing because if its based on FF7 it should combine challenge and luck, and I enjoy conquering the games combat related challenges regardless of the reward.

I hate to bring up WoW, but they had a battle arena consisting of solo battles that required a very high amount of skill or resourcefulness to complete and it was one of the most challenging and exciting pieces of content I've seen in an MMO, especially since most MMOs don't really even care about solo combat challenges like that. It had some gold as a reward, but the reason people did it is because they found it fun, not because they wanted gold.

Now I'm not saying it should clone that model it was just an example, but FFXIV has shown a lot of creativity, and some players are more interested in the concept of a battle square that combines gear, skill, and luck like FF7.