The Latest Casual Playlist Ignites Intense Discussions Regarding Bots, Experience Points, and Queue Times
Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a fresh playlist called Relaxed Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option resembles the regular Breakthrough setup but features several key changes:
- Each team has only eight human participants, with the remaining filled by 32 bots.
- Actions performed by human gamers grant complete experience points, while bot actions provide reduced XP.
- Only two locations are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
- Features like Dogtags, achievements, and career stat updates are disabled.
So essentially, the playlist delivers on its title: it's a laid-back take of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume it's a good idea, since it gives more options for players looking for different ways to have fun with the game. But, gaming history have taught us anything, it's that not everyone will be happy. In other words, a lot of BF6 players are upset.
Player Reactions: Anger to Praise
"Gamers prefer human opponents. Avoid making the errors of your competitors," states a response to the mode reveal. "Truly disappointing idea," comments a different user. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, a player notes, "It's unclear where we are going with this game," while another lists all the issues they believe to be problematic in the game: "Fix bugs, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, adjust aiming after sprinting, improve hit detection. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."
However, amid the criticism, there are players explaining how much they're liking the new mode. "It's enjoyable to warm up, real players keep it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says a forum post. "This subreddit fails to see that there are players who actually go outside and don't play this game 24/7. Let them strike a balance," states a different comment. One reply via social media 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 Concerns and Community Input
All that said, players have constructive reasons to complain about Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have highlighted that it will make queue times more extended for other modes 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 does not begin without a minimum number of real players, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.
Lastly, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was meant to offer full XP, including AI matches, but that was removed when they attempted to remove XP farming from the system. Thus Casual Breakthrough seems like the player base compromising halfway, according to a Reddit comment. A different user describes this mode as the devs "making a mistake significantly, I experienced so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"
Looking Ahead: Adjustments Be Made?
Should Battlefield Studios has proven anything to date with Battlefield 6, it is that they're listening and responding to feedback. Tasks being too difficult were adjusted rapidly, just like the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.