If our hope is for ETH to become a viable currency in addition to the benefits of Ethereum in general, why is everyone so excited that it’s being burned?

If I understand correctly, ETH prints to infinity and has no cap, so the burn doesn’t outnumber the new additions. But what’s the long game there? Why is it built right into the new system?

Is the goal for it to be a store of value like BTC instead of common transactional currency down the road?