The short answer is no, tradeskilling is not useful.
Look, tradeskills are fun, and I have nothing against them. Loramin has the 7th Shawl, and he's also a master blacksmith (working on grandmaster), so I'd be a hypocrite if I said "don't tradeskill".
But the honest truth is that established servers like Blue/Green have lots of existing tradeskillers. Any
* item you could want to get through tradeskills can be acquired far faster/easier by buying it from them, vs. gaining the skill to make it yourself.
* With a few exceptions to prove the rule, such 7th Shawl
https://wiki.project1999.com/Runed_Coldain_Prayer_Shawl (which you have to be a tradeskiller to get), or learning enough Pottery to make the
Thurgadin Gate potion.