In terms of its levelling system, it IS an MMO.

You could still be patient while having fun instead of bored out of your mind... Unless you're supposed to be bored when playing MMOs ? (haven't played one before so I wouldn't know)

Which is why SMART players combine the farming of mats with OTHER activities that are fun. The only time in the last month and half that I've been "short" of non-ascendent material upgrade mats was last week. And that was only because I was lucky enough to get two pieces of raid armor and four new raid weapons between my three characters. Which all required more Spirit Bloom than I had stockpiled. You just use patrol mode as a time to fulfill Vanguard/Faction bounties, run patrol misions AND hit the material chests in the map area you happen to be in. The Chest have at least one (and sometimes as amany as 10) of whatever that planets upgrade material is....and every major map area has SEVERAL locations that spawn these chests. Its a simple matter to learn where they are...and HIT THEM before you leave a particular patrol area. So each day while you're doing your PvE bounties, you get at least a dozen (or more) materials to add to your stockpile. If you're a Crucible player, then you're just going to have to come out into the PvE world and used patrols as an opportunity to gain faction rep, as well as farm materials.

True, I do think that putting the mats on your scanner would help immensely, especially with Relic Iron