The Latest Casual Playlist Sparks Heated Discussions Over Bots, XP Rewards, and Wait Times

Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios launched a new game mode titled Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option mirrors the regular Breakthrough format but features several notable adjustments:

• Every squad has only 8 real players, with the rest made up of 32 bots.
• Activities done by human gamers award full XP, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
• Only two locations can be played: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Features like Dogtags, achievements, and stat tracking are disabled.

In short, this mode delivers on its title: it's a casual version of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think it's a good idea, as it provides additional choices for gamers seeking alternative methods to have fun with the game. However, gaming history has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many Battlefield 6 players are mad.

Player Reactions: Anger to Praise

"People want real players. Don't repeat the errors of your rivals," states one reply to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing idea," says another. At the same time, in community forums, a player notes, "I have no idea where we are headed with this title," while someone else lists all the issues they consider to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, adjust aiming after sprinting, improve hit detection. We do not require this AI-heavy playlist."

On the other hand, for every complaint, there are players sharing how much they're enjoying the new mode. "It's enjoyable to practice, real players prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says one Reddit comment. "This subreddit fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and don't play this title all the time. Allow them to find a middle ground," adds another. One reply on Twitter clarifies that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is great for me," and another applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Criticisms and Player Input

All that said, there are constructive reasons to criticize Casual Breakthrough. Some users have pointed out that it will make wait times even longer for other modes due to the large amount of playlists currently available. Similarly, certain regions often face mostly bots in the current modes. It also seems a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a minimum number of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Finally, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was meant to offer full XP, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the system. Thus Casual Breakthrough feels like the community meeting them halfway, as per a Reddit comment. Another describes this mode as the developers "dropping the ball significantly, I had great enjoyment in the first couple of days, why did they feel the need to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Occur?

Should the development team has demonstrated something to date with Battlefield 6, it's that they're listening and acting on player input. Assignments being too difficult were adjusted very quickly, just like the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they will not hesitate to make further modifications.