DICE: Squads are only accessible on Battlelog, no squad management in game.

According to the Battlefield 3 community manager, zh1nt0, the squads can only be managed on Battlelog and not in the actual game.

This means you can no longer create squads/make private squads while in game. You can only join or leave squads.

Hundreds of Battlefield fans are dissapointed and many are cancelling their PC pre-orders right now. Nothing is yet confirmed on how consoles will work.

[lugia 4000]

This is an outrage for the PC version. DICE is ruining their game, and I will cancel my pre-order. All Battlefield series had this system.

You can check people's feedback here http://forums.electronicart...

I remind you that on the Beta you can only join/leave squads also on consoles.

[LukaX23]

They made it this far… and a lot of people were probably convinced that this was going to put Call of Duty in its place - but they just HAD to fuck it up didn't they? lmao

Still getting it though, I enjoy the beta and it does what I still find very fun in the series, provide awesome gameplay.

[Winter47th]

Battlelog is the most needless feature in recent multiplayer history. Why the shit do I have to quit the game to change stuff?

[evrfighter]

wait what?

I played pretty much all day after work with my brother and we were only in the same squad once...

what's he talkin bout managing through battlelog? cuz the the party system sure as heck isn't it =\

[BattleAxe]

Welp, looks like I might pass this game up even if it does come to Steam somehow.

[zeeshan]

It is the same on consoles in the beta. This is BS!!

[omi25p]

Wont this mean more people will have to visit battlelog.com which means the website/EA will make more money?

[Kamikaze135]

Wtf. It's like

EA said "all right, guys, since console games look and run at an inferior framerate, we have to dumb down the PC version as well. We have to make the cons even across ALL platforms. Not supporting the largest PC gaming company was the first Step with Origins. We're taking this game places!"

What kind of backward logic goes on during their meetings?

[kennyboy]

since console multiplats

fixed

[RememberThe357]

What do consoles have to do with this? It's more like Some idiot at EA is trying to push Battlelog on people. EA is already pushing Origin on people now they're trying to do it with Battlelog.

[fluffydelusions]

Dumb move

[chak_]

this is SO FUCKED UP, I'm going rampage.

[Megaton]

DICE am DERP. I don't like the browser being required in the first place. It's like I'm running some 2-bit F2P MMO beta.

Edit - lucifon below makes a good point about this. How are we supposed to play campaign offline if Battlelog is required to do everything in this game? Origin doesn't run the game and land in a normal main menu. It boots up your web browser and forces you to navigate Battlelog if you wanna do anything, including campaign. Sounds like it's just some seriously restrictive DRM in new wrapping. That would be worse than any of my critiques of the beta. Way worse.

[raunchy]

I've been willing to cope with DICE's vision of their game, but this goes too far. Please listen to the community and fix this grievous mis-step!

[lucifon]

Add it to the list of things that are trickling out as this game gets closer to release. No menu, Origin only so no Steam, no squad management, no Karkand pack at launch. Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot here.

Prepare for the inevitable : due to battlelog being required on PC you can't play the game offline whatsoever including the campaign.

[TheOtherTheoG]

What? I mean, seriously, what logical thinking is there actually behind this? Doesn't that make it, for all intents and purposes, impossible to manage squads? Can't they just do it in the same way as Bad Company 2, you know, so that when you press the 'squad' tab at the beginning, you can actually choose which squad you go in?

[redDevil87]

This is going to piss off soooooooooooooooooooooo many people.

[FantasticBoss]

This is the kind of stituation where I see what they did and why, but that doesn't mean I like it. I hated the idea of the server browser at first but honestly when you think about it it actually changes absolutely nothing while giving them what is probably an easier system to tweak and add too. So, complaining about the server browser system (as long as it's working) is kind of pointless as it's more aesthetic than anything. The problem comes in when you want to tweak in game setting you MUST be in a game and to make it a little more annoying you MUST be alive. Changing settings and die? Well too bad! Now you have to see the stats of the dude that killed you instead. Other than that I really have no issue. Loading squads has worked fine (except one friend it refuses to work for, go figure) and gets us in servers and squaded up and if we aren't sqauded up we can talk through built in voice chat or in our cases Skype. The problem comes from a case of pick up an play.

If I enter a game and a friend wants to join the only thing he seems to be able to control is what team he is on, this is stupid. BC2 had you able to pick squads, why the hell can't we now? I have a feeling maybe it was easier for them to manage people using the party system but it dings everyone who isn't and will make clan matches that much more frustrating to organize. It wouldn't be so bad if you at least had a
create your own" option. Or, have the system setup where if you leave and join a squad, it cycles through squads with open slots or something. This whole "not being able to pick your squad" is completely backwards from the progress they made in the past. They had the option to choose all the way back to BF2 when they first rolled out squads and now they are tearing a system that worked apart and kind of crippling it. I hope this is something they can and will change in a patch.

[Dojan123]

Why shoot yourself in the foot Dice?

[Reborn]

Wow, that totally sucks.

This is no doubt going to cause an uproar.

[veChuy]

Cant you trolls wait to the final version of the game to see how that will work, retarded trolls

[SP3333D-O]

I hated this about the alpha, and it hasn't changed. Doesn't look like it will soon, either. :(

[Motorola]

First Origin required and no Steam, then no in game Server Browser, then only 1 soldier per game limit, now this? Wow wtf...
Sign this please? http://battlelog.battlefiel...

[PRHB HYBRiiD]

signed

[Xandet]

I had such high hopes for B3. I wanted nothing more than to enjoy the beta enough to justify a purchase over MW3, but there is absolutely nothing that I've experienced so far that has deterred me from the crack that is CoD multiplayer. Try harder, DICE. I still have faith in you. (Or just go make Mirror's Edge 2.)

[WillGuitarGuy]

Dice dun f*cked up.

[Da_Evil_Monkey]

Origin, launch from Battlelog, no in-game party system. Battlefield 3 seems to be getting worse and worse. Looks like I'm not going to be getting it; I may have got it later down the line, but I refuse to pay extra for finished content cut from the game as pre-order DLC (Back to Karkand).

[CrimsonEngage]

Consoles don't use battlelog. So how the hell are we supposed to manage our squad? Hmmm?

[Nate-Dog]

Oh dear what have you done DICE, how can you make such a massive fail? If this really is the case I don't see how I can still get this game since it's mainly to play with friends and considering the squad-based gameplay of the game, seriously wtf DICE.

[Ninver]

Most overhyped game this gen so far. the reviewers will rip through this one lol

[RememberThe357]

EA just sh*t the bed. If this is as bad as it seems- What a stupid decision. There is no reason consoles shouldn't be able to change squads or play with friends, and there is no reason PC gamers should have to go through all that just to play with friends. This seems like a completely avoidable cluster f*ck.