It becomes grindy when there's nothing to think about. That's when it stops being interesting and becomes and exercise in patience. Exploring the swamp for crypts and forage is interesting. Pulling iron scrap out of your fifth or sixth cleared crypt is grindy.

Eventually I may even decide to break the game and world hop to bring resources home faster. I supposed the game has already failed if that's the position it's led me to. I just don't care anymore at that point. Forsaken are decent enough as boss fights go, but they're just not worth the trouble if I'm not really in the mood to mine.