I don’t know about you, but since they made it so that vendor engrams decrypted below your power so you can’t use them to boost, I have almost never bothered with them.

I claim every one and dismantle most of them, because the loot is all chaff. The issue isn't the power grind, it's the fact that there are no good rewards there. I definitely bother with the gambit ones since there are weapons that are worth chasing in the pool.

It’s not like it was useful stuff we were getting before, I probably only got something that I didn’t immediately dismantle 1 time out of every 100 drops I got — at least the materials now are useful for crafting, masterworking, and powering up gear.

I agree that adding those materials was good, the trade-off was terrible though. I've put at least 150 hours in, if not more since the change and I'm rank 15 because I don't do 15 gunsmith bounties a day across three chars and the decryption rep sucks. I've gotten 15 rewards from him all season, all of which were dismantled because the chances of getting good world drop rolls is ridiculously small. That is not a good or engaging system.