To those that think the Alpha went pretty well even without coms, remember that those playing the Alpha are mostly guys eager to play the game, learn it and do well. Of course we revive each other and spread out so we can flank and so on. So yeah, we can pull it off muted. When Sep. comes and everyone and his dog starts playing this game, it will be different. And you'll have endless situations where you'll want to guide and help the guys playing beside you but.. ops, you can't talk to them. edit: @op - prox and fireteam shouldn't be mutually exclusive. You should leave fireteam as it is. Then add prox chat enabled by default and the user can go into settings and turn it off and no more prox chat for him. When you get close to an avatar, there should be an icon somewhere to tell you that he can hear you and talk back (meaning he has a headset and has the prox chat enabled). Then, even with the chat enabled, there should be an option to mute specific players.