Bungie's Luke Smith explains to IGN just how extremely crafted these multi-hour raids are and why matchmaking would not benefit any person.
Raids are “extremely crafted,” six-player, friends-only gauntlet runs that might best be described as gut-checks. Yes, they will be difficult, and they will absolutely require communication and cooperation. That’s why Bungie isn’t supporting matchmaking for them; the developers don’t want them to be played by disparate groups of strangers. But Smith is quick to point out that they’re not like Strikes – the instanced dungeon-like runs that might take a mere 20-60 minutes – but more like MMO raids in that you’re going to want to buckle up and get comfortable for a couple hours.
“The activity is going to take you and your group of five buddies into a place that you’ve never been,” Smith explains. “A place that you will return to frequently. And [it will] demand of you things you’ve never even really been asked to do in a shooter before.”
“The activity is going to take you and your group of five buddies into a place that you’ve never been,” Smith explains. “A place that you will return to frequently. And [it will] demand of you things you’ve never even really been asked to do in a shooter before.”
Keep in mind that Bungie constantly insists that Destiny is not an MMO, except the part where PvP can be imbalanced due to different gear, quest structure mimicking many MMO titles, and raids require you to team up with five other friends that have multiple hours of free time to spare. But other than that, not an MMO, no sir.
All joking aside, if you plan on doing any of the raids in Destiny, it may be time to start looking for a good headset and microphone for use with your consoles. You may also want to start making a few friends.
I guess I didn't expect them to do this with a console game, but Destiny never really felt like an MMO to me. So it's probably my fault for assuming. At least I will be able to solo the story and join random groups for the strike missions.