🔗 Share this article

Recently, Battlefield Studios launched a new playlist titled Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this option mirrors the standard Breakthrough setup but features several key changes:

• Each team has just 8 real players, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
• Actions done by real players award complete experience points, while AI activities provide lower rewards.
• Only two maps can be played: Siege of Cairo and Empire State.
• Features like Dogtags, achievements, and career stat updates are disabled.

In short, this mode delivers on its name: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. On the surface, you might think it's a good idea, as it provides more options for gamers seeking alternative methods to enjoy the title. But, if video games has shown one thing, it is that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, a lot of BF6 fans are mad.

Community Reactions: From Fury to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Avoid making the mistakes of your rivals," states one reply to the official announcement. "Absolutely shocking idea," comments a different user. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, one user remarks, "I have no idea 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, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, improve hit detection. We do not require this bot mode."

However, amid the criticism, some gamers explaining how much they're liking the recent addition. "It's enjoyable to warm up, real players prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," reads one Reddit comment. "The community fails to see that there are players who have lives and don't play this game 24/7. Let them strike a balance," states a different comment. A response on Twitter explains that as they're "a battledad with limited time, this is perfect for me," while someone else praises the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Constructive Criticisms and Player Input

All that said, there are valid points to criticize the new mode. A few folks have highlighted that it will make queue times even longer for other modes because of the large amount of playlists in the game already. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. It also seems a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a required amount of real players, even though it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, including AI matches, but that got canned when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the mode. So Casual Breakthrough feels like the player base compromising in the middle, according to forum feedback. Another labels this mode as the devs "dropping the ball so hard, I had great enjoyment in the first couple of days, why did they feel the need to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

If Battlefield Studios has proven anything so far with the latest installment, it's that they're paying attention and responding to feedback. Tasks that were overly hard got fixed rapidly, just like the specific battle pass objectives. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.