The new mass effect trilogy retail version; does it require the discs in the drive to play?

Discs are needed to be in the tray for games that have download-to-drive options for verification purposes. So you will need to have the disc in there for launching and playing. (Otherwise you could, for example, rent or borrow a copy, install, and then play without having discs)

In general, this isn't true at all, since nowadays there are one time use CD keys that lock onto your account. If EA still runs this way, then I might as well buy the digital version, but that sucks, and EA is still in the past.

Are you talking about PC, or console?
If this is PC, then, yeah, you don't need the discs to play, since you're installing off the discs and launching out of Origin.

I assumed that you had meant from a console.

I mentioned blizzard and not using a disc, and you assumed I meant console? Seriously, i thought that much was obvious. Does ME1 also run through Origin now also, so all 3 games do not need discs after install? Thatd be awesome.

Aaaand with that and the assumption ME2 will be discless like ME3, there's my answer. Thanks for the help.

ME1 doesn't require the disc because of its activation limit (it varies per region). ME3 doesn't require the disc either because it uses Origin as DRM. ME2 is the only game in the series that requires a disc check, except if you get the digital download.