Bioware/EA announced today that all PC copies for Mass Effect 3 (both digital and retail copies) will require the installation of EA's Origin client. I, under no circumstances, will install Origin on my computer. This is extremely disappointing for me, but there are some corporate decisions that I simply cannot financially support and this is one of them.
This in no way affects Meriel's story in Mass Effect 2. It just means that unless the Origin requirement is removed for retail copies, there will be no Mass Effect 3.