Well, progression is linked to different types of resources that you acquire in different ways. You'll be chopping trees and mining rocks to build things.
Mining ore deposits, delving into dungeons to craft weapons and armour.
Scouring the various biomes for more advanced crafting materials.
Etc...etc....

It's to be expected in this type of game and your tolerance of it is impossible to measure. To me, 'grind' comes into it having to do so excessively. So, IMO, there can be times when it feels a bit of grindy...not all the time though.

At the same time you'll be exploring and fighting baddies and being immersed in a beautiful world, so again, for me, the other aspects of the game outweigh the amount of grind that comes with it.