Runescape is now really a PvM game - skills arent needed apart from herblore. A lot of people don't PVM though. And if skills arn't needed then why are raw materials.. hmm? So you think Jagex are purposefully trying to ruin skills? No, but most of the game is tailored specifically for combat. I'm not saying I like it - that's just the way it is. Let's take a look at some skills - Atk/Str/Def/Magic/Range/Pray/Hp/Summoning/Slayer are pretty much all combat skills Farming was made for herblore and herbore for combat Mining/Smithing was from the old days - where getting armor drops were pretty rare, so many relied on these skills to get their armor Firemaking - Other then an easy 99, it looks like to me - the only real reason to level this is of the hand cannon DG - I think we can agree that most people do this for the rewards (in the form of chaotic/prayer/etc) Fishing/Cooking - mainly used to get food for combat (back when the only real other way to get food was to buy kebabs in Al Kharid >.<) Construction - looks like a LARGE amount of people come just for the altars The whole game is tailored more or less towards combat. I think that by providing a lot of raw material - it'll entice people who combat all the time to maybe work on some skills that they've conveniently gotten the resources for. On the other end, it's also an incentive for people to who skill all day to come by and work on combat since that's where you can make the most money I DG for the fun of it :-)