I wouldn't say piano roll is useless. I've been using it extensively since version 3. I use it all the time and have written many, many songs including full arrangements using only it.
You can draw in velocity curves and alter timings by switching off the grid snap and all-in-all make a very realistic recording very quickly.
The improvements in show/hide other tracks at the same time is excellent and even the colouring is better now, so you can easilly see where the black notes are.
I'd really like it so you could draw in a line to create a strum effect with chords instead of working note-by-note. But I suppose I can't have everything!
However, on the whole, it gets a big thumbs-up from me.
