I think the game has much improved since Beyond in terms of grind. The thing I hated about the "old way" of grinding was I was forced to do things that I got zero enjoyment from, like scanning wakes. If I enjoy doing something, then to me it's not a grind. Thanks to the material traders, it is very rare that I have to do something that I don't find enjoyable.
Here are some examples. I'm always scanning ships, to the point where my various "shield soak ladeda" scans fill up. I can now trade these for those various wake scans that I need for my FSD. As for the grade 5 wake scans, I just keep my eyes open for missions that offer these as rewards.
For manufactured materials, these days I mostly do salvaging of wrecks - anything from degraded to high grade emissions. It's easy with a ship loaded with collector limpets to stock up on these, and I like flying my ship through debris fields, so it's not really a grind for me. Even better, I no longer have to go to Anarchy systems and destroy innocent ships in order to get certain parts! And finally on this note, I have found a place that continuously spawns HGEs. It's the same type, a component I don't usually use, but any G5 material can be traded for an insane amount of lower grade materials, so it's worth stocking up for trade value alone.
Regarding "raw" materials, as an explorer I enjoy driving my SRV around on planets. Shooting rocks isn't the most fun thing I've ever done, but now that POIs offer a rich assortment of materials (some G5), I find that more "immersive" and enjoyable. Like my HGE system, I have a system a few jumps outside the Bubble that is rich with unique and rare materials.
The only grind that remains that I really dislike is the unlocking of some engineers (I play multiple CMDRs, so once isn't enough). I hate the Fujin tea shop - I wish I could take the store keeper and shove him out an airlock!
But all and all, I really don't need to grind anymore
Here are some examples. I'm always scanning ships, to the point where my various "shield soak ladeda" scans fill up. I can now trade these for those various wake scans that I need for my FSD. As for the grade 5 wake scans, I just keep my eyes open for missions that offer these as rewards.
For manufactured materials, these days I mostly do salvaging of wrecks - anything from degraded to high grade emissions. It's easy with a ship loaded with collector limpets to stock up on these, and I like flying my ship through debris fields, so it's not really a grind for me. Even better, I no longer have to go to Anarchy systems and destroy innocent ships in order to get certain parts! And finally on this note, I have found a place that continuously spawns HGEs. It's the same type, a component I don't usually use, but any G5 material can be traded for an insane amount of lower grade materials, so it's worth stocking up for trade value alone.
Regarding "raw" materials, as an explorer I enjoy driving my SRV around on planets. Shooting rocks isn't the most fun thing I've ever done, but now that POIs offer a rich assortment of materials (some G5), I find that more "immersive" and enjoyable. Like my HGE system, I have a system a few jumps outside the Bubble that is rich with unique and rare materials.
The only grind that remains that I really dislike is the unlocking of some engineers (I play multiple CMDRs, so once isn't enough). I hate the Fujin tea shop - I wish I could take the store keeper and shove him out an airlock!
But all and all, I really don't need to grind anymore