The first raid SUCKED. It was very, very frustrating and hard.

I didn't have to grind much to get in the first raid. It also was not that hard. Getting a decent group together is what was difficult and VERY time consuming. Hence the unhappiness of many for the lack of match making. The devs are relying on third party tools that barely work that they themselves should be implementing.

The DLC is what is forcing folks to grind in order to stay competitive.

well, in reality, they added very little content with the DLC, they just changed a lot of mechanics to require more grind to make it seem like you actually paid for something worthwhile.

This game reminds me of defiance..kinda cool but kinda pointless...only played a few hrs and havent picked it up since.