The rewards for subscribing were always going to be for novelty value. Minions, barding, mounts etc. It's never going to be anything usable in game that will give people a gameplay advantage, because then people will moan about the opposite, "why should player X be given magical helm of awesomeness +1 just for paying their subscription?".
I for one am pleased with the way SE are handling it this time, I didnt get any rewards at all for the years i played FFXI, so a bit of fan service is greatly appreciated, especially a long time FF player like myself, all these throwbacks get me riding the nostalgia train for sure ^^