I bought my TJ for two reasons; a weekend fun vehicle mostly to fart around town and a bug out vehicle in the case of a natural disaster. Living in Florida, I've already seen my fair share of hurricanes and the prepper in me wanted a vehicle capable of getting us to wherever we needed to go. I also believe in doing things right the first time, so I started to replace the unknown and cheap parts that the PO installed with overkill for my use quality parts.
My Jeep is completely overbuilt for what I use it for, but I know that it will handle what I throw at it, and as a bonus I think it looks good too.
For what it's worth, I always thought that snorkels were the most ridiculous thing that I had seen. Then I started wheeling with guys here in Florida, saw how much water and mud we have, and understood. Personally, I don't have one and have no plans to install one but they do serve their purpose.
Something that I've noticed on most forums is that when advice is offered, it's based on the terrain that person knows rather than what the person is asking about. For example, my rig that sees trails in Florids is set up much differently than my father's rig up Maine.