I think the farming skill, in itself, was useful, yet stupid. First off, plants take forever to grow, and xp is not that easy to gain. Cook X made it better for training, but ruined it for those of us who got to our high cooking levels by clicking over and over again. They are making this game easier and easier -.- I agree that firemaking was ruined. I don't really see a point in it at all, at least not for f2p. Crafting is useful in some ways, because you can make range armor, some mage stuff, etc. Although the extent is limited. Smithing isn't that bad. The only problem is that too really make money, you need really high levels, or lots and lots of ore.