Depends on what you want. If you want a good workout, disclipline, some goals to aim for, then traditional martial arts isn't obsolete. It worked back then, and there's no reason why it shouldn't work now. Having said that, if your goal is to be a good all round fighter, then some traditional arts which focus on say one aspect of fighting (e.g grappling only or stand up fighting only) won't give you the entire package you are looking for. It will take you partway there. Whether a person defines this as "obsolete" is their opinion. Another thing to consider though is that traditional Martial arts practice, for many schools, used to be hard and brutal with endless repetition of the same technique. (Hard and brutal as in the kind that could be viewed in the "modern western world" as bordering on lawsuit and abuse. Endless repetition as in punching hundreds of times, or staying in one position for hours). This kind of training produced some of the great fighters that are famous today. However, you can't really get away with this kind of training today. This I think, also needs to be taken into account when answering this question