The Destiny subreddit has
an excellent guide for people coming back to the game that details pretty specifically what's changed since the last time you've played, whether it was at launch, after The Dark Below, right before House of Wolves, etc.
At a minimum they really need to make clans less worthless; the entire clan system boils down to a line of text on your emblem once you actually get in the game. It is bizarre to me how little focus seems to be given to what is generally a foundation of player social interaction in MMOs. People should want to be in clans precisely to help find other players for activities.
The focus on matchmaking is more of a symptom of the core problem, which is that this game has some of the worst social interaction tools of any online game I've ever come across. Players want matchmaking because it is so hard for them to reach out and find other players even if they want to. Not just for raids but for any activity in the game. Matchmaking is the only system already in game that effectively does this for them, so its absence in other modes is like putting out the only candle in the room.
Absolutely agree that MM is really a symptom. I've had nothing but love for the100.io (which is an appointment-based LFG for Destiny - I plug this thing every chance I get because a lot of people don't know about it and it's fantastic) and /r/fireteams on reddit is pretty great too, but I'd be happy to use MM if it were available. And in reality, the best "want to find people to play with" option is simply having a stocked friend list with people already playing - the invite and join options are already built-in. I've never even bothered with clans or anything on bungie.net because it seems pretty pointless.
I don't know much about how clan systems work in other MMOs - the only real experience I have is with whatever they were called in FFXIV - but outside of direct text chat, what other clan features are included in the game itself and *not* redirected to external websites? The way I found an interesting crew to run with in FFXIV was by going to Reddit; otherwise I would have just joined the GAF guild if I could get on the server, which is literally the exact same ways I've found people to join up with in Destiny.
Re: the bolded (and I think this is where a lot of the friction of this endless debate occurs) -- the thing is that it's only significantly hard for people to find other players if they choose not to use other Internet sources. Which is fine from a "principle of the matter" standpoint, I guess, but the ironic part is that
folks are posting on GAF to criticize having to go on a message board to find people to play with. So rather than a conversation that's meant to help people enjoy the game, the "MM vs. no MM" debate on Destiny becomes a clash of ideologies, which literally never ends. I'm in the camp that really strongly pushes people to try finding people on Reddit, the100.io or even destinylfg.net (though the latter isn't always great for brand-new folks) because it worked for me, and because hell, if you've already bought the game, loading up a web browser and spending some time setting up a session is an inconvenience but it sure beats feeling like you've wasted money. I will happily criticize the game for not including matchmaking in all features, because that kind of choice won't effect my ability to still use other out-of-game resources -- but I'll also consistently recommend that people bend their stance on principle and just use a simple ol' website from time to time.
I know it's anecdotal, so take with salt, but here's where I'm coming from: I'm on PS3, which is the least-populated Destiny platform IIRC, and I spent about 45-60 minutes in a sherpa run on the Crota's End raid with a super-helpful and friendly guide named Whoosk who is a mod on the /r/destinysherpa subreddit. He took a crew of somewhat new people and taught them the basic, legit and non-cheese mechanics for every aspect of the raid, and he gave each person the chance to try out the more intricate mechanics like the bridge and running sword. It was fantastically helpful, and even though I'd run CE a few times already I learned a lot of new mechanics. I found him on Reddit when I was asking for help. The ideal scenario is that there'd be an in-game method for him to post that he's looking to help out new players, but short of that, I'd much rather tell people "Go to Reddit and find helpers."
Sorry for the derail here -- every Destiny thread invariably becomes a referendum on matchmaking. I do hope that future iterations of Destiny include better options for finding similar-minded players and giving new players the chance to be paired with helpful, more experienced folks. Maybe some LFG flags for sherpas and bonuses for helping out new players? Maybe a special clan/faction with bonuses that enable people to earn more gear for running raids multiple times.