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Over the weekend, the game developers launched a new game mode called Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the regular Breakthrough setup but includes several notable adjustments:

• Each team has just 8 human participants, with the remaining made up of 32 bots.
• Activities done by real players award full XP, while bot actions offer reduced XP.
• Just a pair of locations can be played: Siege of Cairo and Empire State.
• Features like Dogtags, achievements, and career stat updates are disabled.

So essentially, this mode lives up to its name: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think there's nothing wrong, since it gives more options for players looking for different ways to enjoy the game. However, if video games have taught us anything, it is that not everyone will be happy. In other words, many Battlefield 6 fans are upset.

Community Responses: From Fury to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Don't repeat the mistakes of your competitors," reads a response to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing concept," says a different user. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, a player remarks, "It's unclear where we are going with this title," and someone else lists everything they consider to be problematic in the game: "Fix bugs, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We do not require this AI-heavy playlist."

On the other hand, amid the criticism, some gamers sharing how much they're liking the new mode. "It's very fun to practice, human participants prevent it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says a forum post. "This subreddit doesn't understand that there are players who have lives and can't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," states a different comment. One reply on Twitter explains 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."

Constructive Criticisms and Player Input

All that said, there are constructive reasons to complain about the new mode. Some users have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for different playlists due to the large amount of playlists in the game already. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. Additionally, it appears a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a required amount of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest grievances is that Battlefield Portal was meant to provide full XP, including AI matches, but that was removed when they attempted to remove XP farming from the mode. Thus this new playlist feels like the community compromising halfway, according to a Reddit comment. A different user describes this mode as the devs "making a mistake significantly, I had so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to change it?"

Future Prospects: Adjustments Be Made?

If the development team has proven anything so far with Battlefield 6, it is that they're paying attention and responding to player input. Assignments that were overly hard were adjusted very quickly, just like the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, if their data shows this recent mode isn't performing to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.