🔗 Share this article

Over the weekend, the game developers launched a fresh game mode called Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this option mirrors the standard Breakthrough format but features a few notable changes:

• Each team includes just eight human participants, with the remaining filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Actions performed by real players grant full XP, while bot actions offer reduced XP.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Elements like Dogtags, accolades, and stat tracking have been turned off.

In short, the playlist lives up to its title: it's a laid-back take of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think there's nothing wrong, since it provides more options for gamers looking for alternative ways to have fun with the title. However, gaming history has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, a lot of Battlefield 6 players are upset.

Player Reactions: Anger to Praise

"Gamers prefer human opponents. Don't repeat the mistakes of your competitors," states one reply to the mode reveal. "Truly disappointing idea," comments a different user. At the same time, in community forums, one user notes, "It's unclear where we are going with this title," and someone else lists everything they consider to be problematic in the game: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, improve hit detection. We don't need this bot mode."

On the other hand, for every complaint, some gamers explaining how much they're enjoying the recent addition. "It's enjoyable to practice, real players prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says a forum post. "The community doesn't understand that there are gamers who have lives and don't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," adds a different comment. One reply on Twitter clarifies that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is great for me," while another applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Constructive Concerns and Community Feedback

Despite the support, there are valid points to criticize the new mode. Some users have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes because of the large amount of options currently available. On a similar note, some areas often face mostly bots in the existing playlists. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a required amount of human gamers, even though it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was meant to provide complete rewards, even against bots, but that was removed when they attempted to remove bot farms from the mode. So Casual Breakthrough seems like the player base meeting them halfway, according to forum feedback. Another labels this mode as the devs "making a mistake significantly, I experienced great enjoyment in the first couple of days, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Future Prospects: Adjustments Occur?

Should Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something so far with the latest installment, it is that they're listening and responding to player input. Tasks being too difficult were adjusted very quickly, as did the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, if their data shows this new playlist is underperforming to their standards, they won't be shy to change it again.