Originally posted by c0mad0r:

Just wait til you get to needing iron lol.

Regardless, it's been hinted the devs are considering a difficulty slider in the future, which may help for people such as yourself who want less grindy time.

For now, it's a survival game and it requires a lot of travel and/or time/patience to get everything you need.

was going to make the exact comment about Iron :)

Most grindy crafting item in the game atm. It was because of all the Iron that is needed at all tiers that I installed the UnrestrictedPortals mod so I didn't have to mule it all over the place all the time.

A difficulty slider will probably only effect how hard the mobs and bosses are. I strongly doubt it will do anything to make the Iron farming any less of a grind beyond the trash mobs being easier to kill.

As the devs have made it quite clear that they want to "encourage exploration" by making Players travel all over the map looking for and hauling metals I just can't see them doing anything to make getting all the Iron needed for Swamp and Plains tier gear easier to get.