🔗 Share this article

Over the weekend, the game developers launched a new playlist titled Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this mode mirrors the regular Breakthrough format but features several key adjustments:

• Each team includes only eight real players, with the rest made up of 32 bots.
• Activities performed by real players award complete experience points, while AI activities offer reduced XP.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Elements like Player tags, accolades, and stat tracking have been turned off.

So essentially, this mode delivers on its title: it offers a casual version of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume there's nothing wrong, as it gives additional choices for gamers seeking alternative methods to enjoy the game. However, gaming history has shown one thing, it is that you can't please everyone. In other words, many BF6 fans are mad.

Player Responses: From Fury to Support

"Gamers prefer human opponents. Don't repeat the mistakes of your rivals," reads one reply to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing concept," says a different user. Meanwhile, in community forums, a player notes, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," while another details all the issues they consider to be broken in the game: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, adjust aiming after sprinting, improve hit detection. We do not require this bot mode."

However, amid the criticism, there are players explaining how much they're liking the recent addition. "It's very fun to practice, real players prevent it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says one Reddit comment. "This subreddit doesn't understand that there are gamers who actually go outside and don't play this game all the time. Let them strike a balance," states another. One reply via social media clarifies that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," while someone else applauds the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Constructive Concerns and Community Input

Despite the support, there are valid points to complain about Casual Breakthrough. Some users have highlighted that it will make queue times even longer for different playlists because of the sheer number of playlists currently available. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a required amount of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on fighting AI opponents.

Finally, a major grievances is that Battlefield Portal was meant to provide full XP, even against bots, but that got canned when they attempted to eliminate XP farming from the mode. Thus Casual Breakthrough seems like the player base compromising halfway, according to a Reddit comment. Another labels this addition as the devs "making a mistake so hard, I had so much fun in the initial release, why did they feel the need to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Adjustments Occur?

If the development team has proven anything to date with Battlefield 6, it is that they're listening and responding to feedback. Assignments being too difficult got fixed rapidly, just like the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, should analytics indicates this new playlist isn't performing to their standards, they will not hesitate to change it again.