Is the rank grind even worth it?

FDev raised the amount of grinding to get a new rank to ridicilous levels in 1.3. When I started the game, I didn't really pay attention to the factions, but after doing a few missions I got to rank up to Cadet in the Federation, just two naval progression missions after another, no missions inbetween.

Now I've got some more money so I bought a Type-7 and left for Imperial space to get me a clipper. After a day of going back and forth between 2 systems I got a naval progression mission, and I'm now an Outsider.

I did this again yesterday but no mission. I looked up how it works now and it's just crazy, I don't know the numbers exactly but it's hundreds of missions to get to Baron. I really like this game, but I'm not really interested in putting this many hours doing mindless fetch quests.

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm complaining too much but I just want a Courier and a Clipper, but I don't think it's worth it.

Does anyone know if FDev has any plans to change the way things work?

Thanks.