Yeah idk, I mean I'm thinking about some games people hack in - Battlefield, warzone, valorant, cs go. I mean, the latter 2 don't even really have a serious progression issue, you can purchase all the weapons as a part of each game. Warzone and battlefield, I mean, you can be pretty competetive with guns you get near the start of the game. The most well rounded gun in warzone is the M4 and its the second gun you get, and your starter weapon is even better Stat wise.

I do agree with you that the grind is stupid as hell and is used to get people to spend a ridiculous amount of money to skip the grind. Personally I just view the "grind" as a secondary objective when im playing games, where my first objective is of course to win. But ultimately, I don't buy that these people are just hacking to get past the grind, and if they are that's still annoying as fuck as it just ruins the game for everyone else. Imo you don't get to cheat and ruin every one else's time just because you want to get a slightly better scope or whatever.