Great writeup! Overall, yes, I'm super excited about the co-operative matchmaking capabilities Bungie is going to be offering in Destiny! In my brief experience with this type of co-operative matchmaking (Journey) I was left with this really cool feeling of having a shared experience with someone who I wouldn't have otherwise. It gave the world a sense of life, which was really nice because I felt like things were going on in the world far from wherever I was, and occasionally you'll intersect with other people or events, but they are always a small part of something much larger going on just beyond what you're experiencing.

One thing to be careful of though....

From the article:

With Halo Bungie created a matchmaking experience that has yet to be equaled by any other title. With Destiny they promise to do even better.

It's my understanding that the matchmaking revolution with Halo was for competitive multiplayer and started with Halo 2, and that it definitely wasn't extended to co-op until Halo 3/Reach. Seamless matchmaking is something entirely new for Bungie in the co-operative space, but we honestly have no idea how competitive multiplayer will work in Destiny.

Personally, I can't figure out how a system of seamless matchmaking could possibly work in competitive modes because you need some control over what type of competitive event you're hopping in to, right? The only way I can think to do it without menus would be to have different physical spaces in the world for different competitive game types.

matchmaking in an mmo will be an interesting thing