First off, I only bought the Online Version - No Story Mode

Yes, the game is a Grind to unlock things and if you have watched any Youtube Videos on RD2O - A lot Content Creators are angry with Rockstar and Take 2 for reducing rewards and making the grind even longer. This is a Problem and Needs to be fixed, Most rewards are too little!

There are still good Money & Gold making grinds but you will need to check Youtube and/or Interactive Maps to find Collectables/Legendary Animals.

You can also join a Posse or do the story missions until you have enough Gold to unlock the Job Roles (What Rockstar locks behind Gold Bars aka Micro-transactions, this is RD2O's Version of DLC's).

You can earn Gold Bars but the Gold Bars are even harder to Grind than Dollars (No Surprize) earning fractions of a gold bar at a time. Jobs cost 25 Gold Bars but some Cosmetics, Horses, Gun Cosmetics, Upgrades, etc. can cost over 30 Gold Bars each.

Why is the grind so bad for Gold in particular? Because you can purchase Gold with Real Money and the Prices are Trash! I would much rather pay a higher price for the game and have everything reduced to a realistic value but that will probably never happen :(

- Now you might be wondering, "well, if the game is a grind then why should I play and join the grind?"
Well, it's a simple answer: The Game is Good - If Rockstar just showed the Player base some respect, this game would have a lot more players or at least a lot more Happier Players

The Gun-play is super Fun, the Dead Eye integration is implemented well, Physics is highly amusing, PVE is generally done well (The main thing I enjoy on RD2O) but can get boring after repeating Missions Over and Over Again, Hunting is Great! Feels like a slimmed down version of Hunter Call of the Wild, main difference is, if you spook an animal, they don't run for 30mins XD

I'm sure most players will have Fun but you will eventually hit a paywall or a monotonous grind - this is the point where you have a choice: Pay Money to enjoy or Grind through it.
I personally Paid to unlock 3 Jobs because I wanted to like the game and not burn myself out to unlock the fun content.
Unfortunately, I would have to recommend that any player that looses the will to live easily, should just buy the DLC content (Job Roles) rather than grinding, at least at the start to give yourself a kick start.

If you purchase Gold - Do not blow it on Guns, Horses and Cosmetics. Instead try your hardest to only buy the Job roles and the Outlaw pass (Battle Pass System) - Everything else earn and unlock yourself, you will enjoy the game a lot more playing the content rather than buying it.