Well just because you're not going to end up using it a lot doesn't make it unuseful. For most backacpking trips, yah, of course. I think most everyone is going to choose a lighter or something quick rather than use one of the old primitive methods. But you may not always be guaranteed to have those and if the situation calls for it, it'd probably be better to know how to do than not to do it.

It does me no good to know how to use a bic lighter when I don't have it and have nothing but a potential for a fire all around me, and no idea how to make one.

I mean, in general now, knowing how to read a map is useless if you've got a GPS. By that logic, why should I bother having compass and map skills? Well, even with one you should know the other.