Originally posted by blankitosonic:

Without the grind the game becomes 5 times more short haha

That's why it's grindy. They make it slow and repetitive in order to stretch the game and make it feel longer and more complete, which imo isn't a good thing. But hey, Valheim is still on the works so maybe in the future we'll have less repetitiveness and our playtime will be filled with actual entertainment.