I will preface this with stating that to me, an in-game LFG method where people could indicate what content they want to run (and possibly what restrictions they want to impose on the other players in their party... essentially a lobby browser) falls under the vague umbrella of matchmaking ("the process of connecting players together for online play sessions," to quote the wikipedia entry for it). I would be very happy with something like this in-game for the more difficult end-game content, and reserving the one-button game finding version of matchmaking for the simpler modes is a very reasonable limitation. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchmaking_(video_games)]Matchmaking[/url] does not have to mean solely the one-button method of joining a random game, and I am 100% not trying to request end-game one-button matchmaking for raids. [b][u]Short version:[/u][/b] I believe that an in-game method of finding groups for the tougher content would improve the Destiny experience and fill a void that has existed since the games release. Would we be able to get a statement from Bungie regarding their current thoughts on an in-game LFG method for end-game content? And if they have no intent on implementing this in Destiny 1, could we have a dialogue with a Bungie spokesperson regarding why something like this is not being worked on? [b][u]Long version:[/u][/b] Out of curiosity, I briefly checked the web for statements from Bungie that would illuminate the reasoning for their stance on matchmaking (which can include multiple ways of pairing players with teams), group finding, and end-game content. The results I found indicate that Bungie cares about giving you a good experience once you are in the end game content, but does not care about the experience you have in order to get there. Maybe they just didn't think this through in the beginning? Maybe they either have wanted people to form a community on their forums to look for games or had an idealized notion that you can easily make a team from the handful of players you come across in the "social spaces"? Either way, the fact that the community came up with and makes use of third party LFG sites as the primary method of accessing end-game content indicate that the process of getting a group together for end-game content in Destiny can be greatly improved. Before Destiny even came out, they had stated the following in an article: [quote]...we think you’ll find that playing with other Guardians is quick, painless, and a ton of fun. [url=http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/02/destiny-your-questions-answered/](link)[/url][/quote] And [quote]We're going to see people self-organise. We're seeing people in the Tower already gathering saying, who's going to commit for a raid? [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-21-bungie-on-the-destiny-level-cap-raids-and-game-size](link)[/url][/quote] This makes it sound like finding groups in-game should be easy, right? Months later, in a Bungie.net forum post Deej put forth a statement on their current philosophy regarding end-game content: [quote]At current, our philosophy about endgame content is that part of the challenge includes forming up a team. This is a strong community filled with players who are looking for teammates. Why not seek each other out here and band together? [url=https://www.bungie.net/en-US/Forum/Post/123493876/0/0](link)[/url][/quote] At this point, it seems that they are acknowledging that the formation of a team for end game content is difficult with the tools they give us, and they are labeling it an additional challenge that is part of the designed content. This just seems like a poor justification for not fixing a hole in their game, recognizing that it is a challenge but neglecting to do anything about it. This also points to a potential desire of Bungie's to have the LFG interactions all take place on their forums and create some idealistic community where a good portion of the players regularly interacted with their website community... The fact that multiple third party LFG sites are predominantly used indicates that they failed: the first choice for grouping up is not to "seek each other out here and band together" but rather to go to a third party site that was created in order to fill a gap that Bungie had left in their development of the game. It is impressive and shows that those that care enough will band together to overcome Bungie's imposed obstacles, [u]but the simple fact remains that they shouldn't have had to[/u]. Bungie should provide tools to enable their player base to do this sort of thing in-game, rather than ignore it and label it as an extra challenge. It's time for Bungie to make good on the following statements: [quote]Having gamers participate in the dialogue about what they would like to see, not just our own team and user research group of gamers coming in and out, it certainly makes - it has done historically for Bungie - our games better. [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-21-bungie-on-the-destiny-level-cap-raids-and-game-size](link)[/url][/quote]And [quote]...looking at the LFG [looking for game] - style mechanics is something we absolutely want to do... We would love to get to a place someday where you can advertise your intent to people. Where you can say 'I want to do this. Are you looking to do this with me?' [url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/04/bungie-has-no-plans-to-bring-raid-matchmaking-to-destiny](link)[/url][/quote]A good part of the player base has been trying to have a dialogue with you regarding this, and an in-game LFG method of matchmaking (again, used in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchmaking_(video_games)]the broad spectrum that it encompases[/url]), would go a long way to fixing an issue that has been present since launch. The fact that Bungie has stated [u][b]over a year ago[/b][/u] that this is something they want to implement makes me worry that they have actually worked on this feature, but are holding back on providing it in an update to have an additional selling point for Destiny 2 (which seems like a poor choice, if true, since their ongoing support of the game can do much more to sway player opinions). Maybe I'm putting too much thought into this, and maybe the updates that they can push through are governed by Activision - I don't know, but there seems to be a large gap in the game that they are doing nothing about and it is an issue that I believe could really strengthen the game if implemented properly. Any response in the form of more meaningful dialogue from Bungie regarding in-game methods of finding groups for end-game content would be greatly appreciated. [b]EDIT:[/b] I don't think that the folks at Bungie are dim, and they must have thrown around this idea at some point (probably well before the December statement on LFG above). It seems to me like like the ones with clout (probably the same "decision makers" alluded to in Cozmo's response to [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/198039840/0/0/1]this post[/url]) must be opposed to adding it into the current game. So, could someone from Bungie tell us why? What are the reasons for leaving a gaping hole in your game, through which you can slowly watch Destiny bleed out? For a company that stresses the social aspect of their game, they are really bad at communicating when it comes to feedback requests like this. Just look at the GIANT community wishlist, where the only details on progress or what they want to add are the 5 notes stating that they've added one of the smaller requests. In the community wish list post, Cozmo's sign-off is [b]"Watch this space for updates, and keep talking to us about Destiny"[/b]... "talking to us", with no indication that they are either listening or will respond. Maybe they need to hire someone whose sole job is to respond to as many feedback posts as possible, to the best of his/her abilities. This would at least let us know that they are listening, thinking, and continuing to support their game, with the added bonus that it would probably make the feedback forums a little less toxic (people may be a little more hesitant to create the more hateful or pissy posts if they knew that a hard-working and responsive Bungie employee would likely read it and reply). Just some food for thought.