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Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios launched a new game mode titled Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this mode resembles the regular Breakthrough format but includes a few key changes:

• Every squad has only 8 real players, with the rest made up of 32 bots.
• Actions performed by human gamers grant full XP, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
• Only two locations are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
• Elements like Dogtags, accolades, and stat tracking have been turned off.

So essentially, this mode lives up to its name: it's a laid-back version of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume it's a good idea, as it gives more options for players looking for alternative methods to have fun with the title. But, if video games have taught us anything, it is that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many BF6 players are upset.

Player Responses: Anger to Support

"People want real players. Avoid making the mistakes of your competitors," reads a response to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking concept," says another. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, a player remarks, "It's unclear where we are going with this title," while someone else details 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 AI-heavy playlist."

On the other hand, amid the criticism, there are players sharing how much they're enjoying the new mode. "It's very fun to warm up, real players prevent it from being a complete grind 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 strike a balance," adds another. One reply on Twitter clarifies that as they're "a parent gamer with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," while someone else applauds the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Constructive Criticisms and Player Feedback

All that said, there are constructive reasons to criticize the new mode. Some users have pointed out that it will make queue times more extended for different playlists because of the large amount of options currently available. On a similar note, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a minimum number of human gamers, despite it focuses mostly on combat against bots.

Finally, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was meant to provide complete rewards, including AI matches, but that got canned when they attempted to eliminate XP farming from the mode. So this new playlist seems like the community compromising in the middle, according to a Reddit comment. A different user describes this mode as the developers "dropping the ball significantly, I had so much fun in the first couple of days, why did they feel the need to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should the development team has proven anything to date with the latest installment, it's that they're paying attention and responding to player input. Tasks that were overly hard got fixed rapidly, just like the specific battle pass objectives. It is likely that, if their data indicates this recent mode isn't performing to their expectations, they will not hesitate to change it again.