Oh, sure. Morrowind had no end of overpowered things, but that was mostly a function of the magic system having the potential to get stupid broken. At the same time, it made you work for your enchantments. They were stupidly expensive, and that in a world where you couldn't easily offload any valuable loot for its true value.
Even then, you had artifacts that were valuable because you couldn't replicate them yourself. Stuff like the Boots of Blinding Speed, or the spear of Hircine, or the Boots of the Apostle.
The grind for soul gems isn't so much the problem, so much as the subsequent coming back to town and the mind-numbing process of "ring, fortify sneak, petty soul, craft, ring, fortify sneak, petty soul, craft, ring, fortify sneak, petty soul, craft," ad nauseum and times three hundred.