🔗 Share this article

Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a new playlist called Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this option resembles the regular Breakthrough setup but includes a few notable adjustments:

• Every squad has just eight real players, with the remaining filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities performed by human gamers grant full XP, while bot actions provide reduced XP.
• Just a pair of locations can be played: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
• Elements like Player tags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.

In short, the playlist lives up to its name: it offers a laid-back take of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume it's a good idea, as it provides additional choices for players seeking alternative ways to enjoy the title. But, if video games have taught us anything, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many Battlefield 6 players are upset.

Community Responses: From Fury to Support

"Gamers prefer human opponents. Don't repeat the errors of your rivals," states a response to the mode reveal. "Truly disappointing idea," comments another. At the same time, on the Battlefield subreddit, one user remarks, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," while another lists all the issues they believe to be broken in the game: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this bot mode."

On the other hand, for every complaint, 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 complete grind but it's quite laid-back," reads a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are gamers who have lives and can't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," states a different comment. One reply via social media clarifies that as they're "a parent gamer with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," while someone else praises the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Valid Concerns and Player Feedback

Despite the support, players have constructive reasons to complain about Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have pointed out that it will make queue times even longer for other modes because of the sheer number of options in the game already. On a similar note, some areas often face AI-filled matches in the current modes. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a minimum number of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Finally, a major grievances is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to eliminate XP farming from the mode. So this new playlist feels like the community compromising in the middle, according to forum feedback. A different user describes this addition as the developers "dropping the ball so hard, I had great enjoyment in the first couple of days, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Future Prospects: Adjustments Occur?

If Battlefield Studios has proven anything to date with the latest installment, it is that they're paying attention and responding to player input. Tasks that were overly hard were adjusted very quickly, as did the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, if their data indicates this recent mode isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to make further modifications.