Dont you think if it were that simple, games that have raids would give you 'optional' matchmaking? If its harmless why dont they just turn mm on? Theres a reason why they dont my friend. The honest reason we dont have it is, its pointless dedicating resources to because its guaranteed to fail. Look at reckoning, a 3 man activity where the only difficult part is crossing a bridge, yet matchmaking for it 9/10 teams cant even avoid a boss stomp. It inevitably turns more people away from attempting subsequent runs, than it encourages. Scenario 1. Imagine matchmaking into a raid, 3 guys have no mic, 1 guy is playing loud music, 1 guy doesnt speak your language. Who is the leader? Who do you talk to to work out strats? So you leave and re enter matchmaking, and this kind of no mic, no coordination scenario happens again, and again and again.(you know its true) You eventualy just close it and think screw it im done. Scenario 2. You go to lfg, and you spend 10 - 15 mins to find 5 others who want to get this done. They might not even be the best players, but they've made the effort to look up other like minded players just like you, and they're willing to use a mic. You might not even complete a full raid, but you talk, you attempt, you learn. You call it a night and maybe add a guy or 2 from your run. Honest question, which scenario is most likely to make you attempt a raid again? So yes, it is 'optional', but that 'option' is a negative one, that will have the highest failure rate, and is far more likely to put you off ever attempting a raid again, than it is encouraging you to group up and try again. The matchmaking then starts a ripple effect, the guys who fail in matchmaking will then come to the forums and say "x, y, and z needs changing in the raid, because matchmade groups cant pass a checkpoint. This leads to simplified mechanics being applied in subsequent raids, or less adds etc. It weakens the experience. And thats why essentialy, most games with raids avoid mm. Unless its like wow which gave very simplified dumbed down raid finder, with raids stripped of all mechanics you can face roll. It never goes down well, trust me. So whilst 'optional' raid matchmaking seems a novel and obvious idea, it actualy isnt, and historicaly leads to failure when implemented. My solution, is tower chat options A job/quest board in the tower akin to monster hunter An lfg room in the tower, and on patrol akin to division safehouses.