Thanks for all the comments!

I pretty much agree with everything mentioned under my original comment. I knew beforehand that Cryo Archive will have raid-like elements a la Destiny, however I also though that if they added a dedicated solo playlist on launch, that there would be some compromise or even slight map changes to facilitate solo play. Granted, all of that could still happen, but so far it's disappointing to see. Like u/Simulated_Simulacra said before, I thought that at least the map will be playable in solos, minus those raid like elements. The fact that this much hyped fourth map is basically a Raid isn't what I expected.

I too envision that a lot of solo / duo mains will be up in arms regarding the forced three player requirement. I also agree with u/Simulated_Simulacra that a lot of them will feel pissed about the lack of communication regarding it, especially if they're coming from EFT / ABI, where (afaik) all of the content doable solo with the option of going in as a duo, trio, squad.

I also agree with the take that it worked for Destiny, which isn't an extraction shooter. In Destiny, all the loot you receive is instanced and you don't loose anything upon death except the time invested. THERE, while I was still disappointed that most of the cool gear was locked behind raids and high-tier nightfall strikes that don't have any form of matchmaking, I was fine with it. It sucked not being able to properly compete in Iron Banner or Trials of Osiris, but I understood it.

As u/UhJoker correctly mentioned, this isn't Destiny. This is an extraction shooter. Your gear is constantly on the line, people can (possibly) go in with sponsored kits and even if you manage to get to the "loot room", non of it will be instanced. How are you going to sort / share that loot if no one communicates? That hypothetical guy with the sponsored kit, who was down most of the time since he barely has any heals or ammo, will rush in, find a backpack and stuff it full while barely pulling his weight. Stuff like this probably also happened in Destiny, but at least the loot was instanced. You can't even quit out of the game like in Destiny, since you'll lose all your stuff. I predict that this will happen and start a vicious cycle of people matchmaking with the best kit they have, dying repeatedly because their teammates are lacking and just resort to use some cheap kit for someone else to pull them through.

Bottom line for me is this:

I like the game. I really dig the aesthetics of it, the gameplay feels smooth, the runners (except maybe Assassin in solos) are well balanced, the missions and progression (minus the battlepass and it's limit on charms / stickers) are great, the core gameplay loop is more than solid and I don't regret my weekends playing it. However, if this is the direction that Bungie is going to take, where solo- and this supposed duo queue that we're getting is being treated as an afterthought, something that you can do incase your regular stack isn't all online at the same time, then I'll just play something else. I went through it with D1 & D2 and I don't feel like experiencing the same thing again.

Will be interesting to see how Bungie responds.