The journey of growing in power has no value to me in Destiny. I want to get something and use it. I don't want to get something - then go do bounties to level it up so I can start to actually use it. It always feels like busywork to me.
I really don't care about the "power" in Destiny to be honest, a number has absolutely no meaning for me, and I hated that Bungie is artificially making its content lengthier just by putting a specific power level to access it. It's dumb since, especially in D2, ennemis are scaled to fit your level....
Comparing this to Halo, everything feels ultra superficial to me in Destiny.
But putting this aside, I always thought the guns we get from loot (in D1) were already useful, and they just got better and better the more you play it. I, to be honest, don't see this as grinding, since, well, you will of course play the game, and with a weapon, so that's just giving you reward during your play session that impact, on the positive side, how you're using your own tool.
Bounties weren't a requirement, they were just another excuse to have fun, and still earning something if that what you absolutely wanted.
To be honest, all the "RPG" stuff Bungie is using in Destiny 2 are completely useless, it's a false added value. To this point, they should just make a game like Halo and give you weapons and aesthetic pleasing armors the more you play without putting numbers anywhere.