I think I may be on the other side of the fence compared to many members of DGaf. I absolutely love the way that progression and loot works in this game. Maybe it is because I come from a strong MMO background, but I see this formula being much more forgiving than most MMORPGs.
First is the Pre-raid endgame. The way decrypting works along side of the amount of blues, marks, and exotic engrams you find doing Pre-raid content is far superior than the standard farm boss for a single piece of loot your class needs from their respective loot table. This makes all strikes, quests, and material farming a viable option to gear up your item level to be ready for the raid.
Raid endgame is also superior to most MMORPGs. Bosses have loot tables but they do not have a defined number of items they will drop. Moldering shard mechanics allow for a guaranteed drop each week, and exotics can now roll at item level cap.
Hard mode raid sounds no different from most other endgame raids. Slow progression through content based on item level walls. This is something I like, bashing my head against a fight because I do not over level the content and have to play perfectly.
All my own opinions here and they are not meant to demean the opinions of otheres.
TLDR - Destiny's item level progression is far superior than other gamed that share the same archetype.