It's extremely easy and quick to go >>1k blocks away from spawn looking for good territory if you want to, and I've done so now in three separate worlds. And I didn't have a bunch of resources when I did that either. Iron is easier to find than ever now that it spawns on the surface in mountain biomes. I got over a stack just taking the surface iron on a mountain. Sure, there were also copper veins, but there was plenty of iron. This was the first thing I did after punching down a tree and getting a stone pickaxe btw.

I do agree with you on inventory clutter, but that has been a problem for as long as I have played the game (since about 2010? I don't remember which version). I am disappointed that they have delayed the introduction of the bundle.