[2020] Can we join friends from Steam again and see their names in game without being in a party?

Seriously I don't know why this was done, the player count is low enough as it is and removing the ability to easily join friends and see them in game is a serious downside. If the goal was to remove the steam reliance part then there should have been a something ready to take it's place.

I've already seen people in game mention it's enough reason to make them leave the game.