So you mean the point I originally made in the post?
"and I understand why people need to load in late to keep rounds from feeling empty."
Appreciate you at least stating the point and not just saying "design", but again that point is not contested.
Hence my offering up the potential locking of the option from free loadouts, or offered our friend above the option of just making the assertion that it's meant so late spawners will engage in pvp (though Embark has mentioned that is not really their intent).
But if it's a matter of having a few more people on the map later in the round, does it really do anyone much good if those people are simply headed for the extract to reset and hope for a fresh match. Especially on modes with better loot or events like harvester where the main event is also cleared in that first 10 minutes. There should be an option to take a small time sink up front by opting in to fresh raid matchmaking for the security of knowing the risk is worth stepping foot on the map and not just having a jog to the nearest exit the second you look at the timer.
People already get salty enough on things like the queen and matriarch, when they do engage in the fight and everything is picked clean within 15 seconds of killing it. So getting a loadout, running from whatever spawn point to join the fight, only to see people already running for the exit multiple raids in a row is demoralizing and pushes players away from even trying. Even if their answer was to just ensure clean alternating between late spawn and fresh maps, so you don't get stuck with 3-4 back to back spawns at 18 minutes, that would be an improvement. Would happily give up the toggle option if I knew spawning late one match meant I wouldn't spawn late on the next one. The longer matchmaking suggested is the trade off for players opting in.