PC gamers on the Battlefield 3 beta have been worried about the lack of support for squads. Console beta players have been able to form private squads and switch squads mid-match. Will the PC version get the same features in the full release?
"In short answer form, yes you can browse and join squads through the squad screen and make private squads. The full form will be available later," writes DICE employee Bazajaytee in a forum thread spotted by Gameranx . That's good news, but there's no mention of support for squad switching mid-match, and a previous tweet from DICE community manager Daniel Matros says that "squadding will be on the battlelog side of things," suggesting that we might have to form squads before jumping onto a server.
Using Battlelog on the beta so far has been a mixed experience. The option to access match reports from previous games, view unlocks and form platoons seem to work quite nicely, and in the later stages of the beta, we've been able to get into matches quickly. The inability to change in-game options outside of a server feels restrictive, though, and if Battlelog ends up denying us features like squad-switching, then it won't be popular. So far, though, it's worked a lot better than Bad Company 2's server browser did on launch.
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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
