I'd say it's more useful than those 2 games. People always need food and stat potions (well, good players do).

Also, the last tier of crafted gear was generally better than i100 with good melds, despite only being i90. Doesn't really matter so much now since sands and oils rain from the sky but from 2.2 to 2.3 they were really good if you had the money to spend.