I like riding my mount, and wish more people had them and used them. But maybe that's because of my geography and history. (Descended from Texas ranchers and farmers since pre-industrial revolution)
It eats like a horse, though! (duh)
Now that I have a little cash saved up, I'll finally get seriously to work on my crafting, which just wasn't very doable before. (Don't really have the playing time available to grind away at digging mats for hour after hour.) And then the dappers will be gone and I'll go back to hunting for a while.
It's a nice cycle, I think. Keeps me from getting bored always doing the same thing.
For the most part, though, and for most people, the economy and dappers are really not very significant and not an important part of the game.
I would dearly miss vendors, though! Despite getting my "good" gear from my wonderful guildies, I also love to go on round the world shopping sprees trying out different outfits in different colors, accessorizing with different kinds of amps and weapons, and generally being all "mall rat". Most of you probably think that's silly, but hey, it floats my boat. I just wish there was more variety in things. (And I wish the "same" color from different lands didn't clash...)
Maybe an influx of shopaholics would drive the economy better...