It is probably is 5 to 10 % of the game content wise, but it's what keeps the game alive.
Without it , people would just move on after completing all the PvE content a few dozen times .
People hand a shit load of hours on patrol just because they like to free roam. That claim holds no merit, and people need to stop using it. Pvp isn't everything for everyone.
Patrolling for 3 years straight is pretty dam monotonous, when there are so many other great games out there , with far more fleshed out worlds and stories .
I'd like to direct you to Vanilla Destiny, pre-HoW when Destiny was a thriving community of PvE players meeting up every week to do the raids and nightfalls. That is of course until Bungie made every update pvp-centric and let the raids stay in their state of dilapidation...