*ahem* there is something called fireteams. you have to start them in-game i beleive, but so long as you don't back out to the main menu, you will stay with your fireteam aka party.
*facepalm*
what the OP was talking about is that there is NO way to party up BEFORE and then all jump into a game instead what u have is having 1 person join a game and HOPING it has enough room for 7 other ppl to join who will HOPEFULLY join before some random takes a spot or 2
THAT is not good and terrible for a game that promotes teamplay. No excuses SD dropped the ball bigtime on that and dont see the game lasting long on consoles when ppl are getting trouble to play with friends especially when its a new IP