Naa, it's mostly for the cool factor, but it's still functional so not a complete waste of money.
Mostly I want it to make the slide easier to rack. Mine is the XDm with the vertically tapered slide and is stainless steel, slick as owl poop. I find it somewhat more difficult to rack than any other handgun I own, even compact .45ACPs.
I added a slide racker to solve this problem but I don't like it.
Plus I'm bored, not being able to get the firearms I want so I've been dressing up some that I already own.