I feel like posts like this assume that veterans of the game have had everything handed to them.
I had to grind all of the same ways that you have to to get my legendary and journey characters/ships.
I had to go through multiple guild mergers/shake ups to get to a place where I could farm HSTR.
I started this game when there were no guides or videos on how to have the best start. I wasted a bunch of resources on characters that were useless. It is because of mistakes made by veterans that new players have all kinds of handy guides to make sure they are getting the most out of the game.
The game is about resource management and long term focus. You want it for free? Grind it out. You want it now? Buy it. It is unfair to say that I have some sort of advantage, because I had to make those choices too.
You can complain about the grind, but don't make it seem like those that have come before you didn't have to endure the same grind as you.