There is another important aspect that was left out of my previous post. Grinding the strikes will teach you how to play. Pvp and Pve are so incredibly different. The mechanics of the was a Minotaur moves, where the precision spot is on a goblin vs. A phalanx. How to avoid spatter damage. Why mel reign a cursed thrall is a bad idea, but if they are in a group of mobs you shoot them 1st. You learn more about the game and how it's played. There are quite a few 31s with a grimory under 1500! (Mine is only barely 2k, but still) you need to know how to down Crota, how to fight phogoth, why everyone hates valus t'arick (sp?). These are kind of the cultural things of destiny (at least in pve, I never pvp). TL;DR if you don't run the strikes everyday you can't "get gud"

I love Valus. I will admit, at first it seems like a longer strike, but once you realize you can run over the guards, start shooting the tank before it drops, and know how to make Valus move, it is an extremely fast strike.