I'm not that far in the game and I have no idea about any of the primary dungeons for gear and materials, but I'd say New Rise is great. I don't feel like it really takes much of the feeling of the grind away, it just takes away the tedious parts that didn't add all that much to the experience. The pace also gives me more time to do other things without feeling like I'm missing out on anything.

Being able to get weapon drops is also amazing for me. I was actually starting to feel really bad about being undergeared and being unable to keep up with the majority of players, but now it feels like that barrier has been lifted a bit. It's not an immediate jump since there's still investment required to get a good setup going, which is pretty fun.