But people are different. Ive grinded for an item in WoW longer than RDR2 has been released. In my case I didn't mind, in the RDR2 case there are already complainers. I do not think its possible to strike a perfect balance as someone, somewhere, will always be butthurt over any matter.
It definitely is, but as some others have said, you see naked examples of the developer incentivizing you to take the shortcut. GTA Online is like that, sure you get 750k free as a gift but you can't afford things to get content as you need a high level apartment, bunker, nightclub, etc. and those all need large amounts of money - and you do a heist likely with 3 monkeys to get 150 k or some relative pittance.
Though really, nothing wrong with it in any case, just trying to explain the distinction in my mind.