User blog comment:Lancer1289/BioWare gets on the Multiplayer bandwagon/@comment-1655340-20111011072953/@comment-1655340-20111011081008

Exactly. BioWare knows what they're doing. And if they make a mistake, it's not by any means intentional. It's like me: I say or do alot of things wrong without realizing it, and when someone calls me out on it, I'm genuinely sorry, because it wasn't my intention to get lashed out at. But all the other times I'm really good about it, and I know what I'm doing when it comes to certain things.

The first part is in relation to DA2, and BioWare's reaction to the negative reaction of the fans. I understand why they did what they did, as far as the areas go.

And BioWare has made many games, and their games are (almost) universally praised, excluding DA, and they know what they are doing and what they're trying to achieve. Like they also said in that post, they chose Co-op because, due to the nature of the series and the current state of the in-game univese in ME3, it made a lot of sense. As opposed to a versus/Horde-type mode, which wouldn't make much sense with what's going on in the story.

So yes, they are loosely connected, but that doesn't mean that you are going to lose any of Shepard's story because of it. All the squad members don't appear in the MP, and it's basically like soldiers in a war movie: You're focusing on the efforts of the hero/ine, and what s/he and his/her group of secondary protagonists are doing to save the world, but what about the ordinary soldiers in the battles? What are they doing to fight the war where the hero/ine isn't present?

It is entirely possible for battle sot be won (or lost) without the hero/ine being involved, and many battles have ended up that way, in Mass Effect as well. So, focusing the Co-op MP on those "ordinary soldiers", who are fighting the war on the front lines where Shepard has no involvement, it will make a difference to the war, whether it's because you won the battle - or even lost it.

The point is, we're not being forced to play as these soldiers; ME is, and always will be, about Shepard and his/her saving the galaxy from the Reapers. But now, if we want, we can help Shepard in our own little ways, and see the war from another perspective, and if that costs us a little info about the game that doesn't need to be obtained by Shepard to finish the SP-game, then so be it. But, like a commenter pointed out in the threads, there will be probably hundreds of videos uo within the following weeks after it's release showing what you may or may not be missing in the MP.

So, in short, what Legionwrex said.