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Recently, Battlefield Studios launched a new game mode called Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this mode resembles the regular Breakthrough format but features several notable adjustments:

• Every squad has only 8 real players, with the remaining filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities done by real players grant full XP, while bot actions offer reduced XP.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
• Elements like Dogtags, achievements, and stat tracking are disabled.

In short, the playlist lives up to its title: it offers a laid-back version of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume there's nothing wrong, since it provides more options for gamers seeking alternative methods to have fun with the game. But, if video games has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. In other words, many BF6 fans are mad.

Community Responses: Anger to Praise

"Gamers prefer human opponents. Don't repeat the mistakes of your rivals," reads one reply to the official announcement. "Absolutely shocking concept," comments another. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, a player notes, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," while someone else details all the issues they consider to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Fix bugs, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."

However, amid the criticism, there are players sharing how much they're enjoying the new mode. "It's enjoyable to practice, human participants keep it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says a forum post. "This subreddit fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and don't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," adds another. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a battledad with limited time, this is great for me," and another praises the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Valid Criticisms and Player Input

Despite the support, players have constructive reasons to criticize Casual Breakthrough. Some users have highlighted that it will make queue times more extended for other modes due to the sheer number of options currently available. Similarly, some areas often face mostly bots in the existing playlists. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a minimum number of real players, even though it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.

Finally, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, even against bots, but that got canned when they tried to remove XP farming from the system. So Casual Breakthrough seems like the community compromising halfway, according to a Reddit comment. Another labels this mode as the devs "dropping the ball significantly, I experienced so much fun in the first couple of days, what prompted them to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Adjustments Occur?

If the development team has proven anything so far with Battlefield 6, it is that they're paying attention and acting on feedback. Tasks that were overly hard were adjusted rapidly, just like the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, should analytics indicates this recent mode isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to change it again.