Pug raids and locking instances

So I am always wondering what can be done to make pick up groups more appealing to people. Encouraging smaller guilds as Lotro has done seems to be a part of it. Still getting a pick up group together to run the rift did take a half hour (probably to be expected for 12 people at lvl 50 and in exactly the right class distribution) I have heard that Pug raiding was common in EQ and I think the BAD thing World of Walkcraft did to kill the pug raids rep was a. let everyone solo to lvl 60 (especially hunters, cuz they get there twice as fast) and then they didn't learn to play their classes in a group setting (i.e. taunt and heal at the right times and not over dps the tank) and b. add raid locks to instances. I was saddened to see Lord of the Rings Online implement this evil, nefarious, redunquerus (ok I just made that word up, but you get the idea) system because it means you cant just play what you want to play with whoever you want to play, whenever you want to play it.

Thanks to small guild sizes though we have found a larger number than what existed in wow of random people not locked to the rift and excited to go, so there is a plus side to my story. We pugged the rift and killed the first five bosses Saturday and it only took a little longer than usual due to lots of explanation being done.
But I am getting off topic which was this: what can be done instead of raid locks? How about we stop punishing the masses for the abuses of a few. If people want to burn through a game and see all the content that exists and then quit when they hit the brick wall that IS always there at the end of programming land, LET THEM :) These power players will have to learn not to do that. Free things up by giving us the ability to break raid locks at our leisure or reset the dungeon. Even more freedom could come from ability to Save your progress in a dungeon FOREVER, (I feel like using capital letters today, trust me I wont make a habit of it) until you come back to resume said dungeon.

Why not? I see no reason why not. Give them save tokens or something. Wow did this to a very limited extent in many dungeons including Karazhan with keys and back doors and flight paths but I am talking about changing our thinking here. Let people save the game, leave at the drop of a hat, and come back to where they were. If you have to be restrictive make it bosses beaten or something. Does anyone have any ideas or see any problems with this?