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Recently, Battlefield Studios introduced a new playlist titled Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option resembles the standard Breakthrough format but includes several notable adjustments:

• Every squad includes just 8 real players, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
• Actions performed by human gamers grant full XP, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Elements like Dogtags, achievements, and stat tracking have been turned off.

In short, the playlist lives up to its title: it's a casual version of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think it's a good idea, since it gives more options for players looking for different ways to enjoy the title. However, if video games has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many Battlefield 6 players are mad.

Community Reactions: Anger to Praise

"People want human opponents. Avoid making the mistakes of your competitors," states one reply to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing concept," says a different user. At the same time, in community forums, a player notes, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," and someone else lists everything they consider to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, correct rocket mechanics, adjust aiming after sprinting, fix awful hit registration. We do not require this bot mode."

However, amid the criticism, there are players sharing how much they're liking the new mode. "It's enjoyable to warm up, real players keep it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says one Reddit comment. "The community fails to see that there are players 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 busy schedules, this is perfect for me," and someone else applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Criticisms and Player Feedback

All that said, players have valid points to criticize the new mode. Some users have highlighted that it will make wait times more extended for other modes because of the large amount of options in the game already. Similarly, some areas often face mostly bots in the current modes. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a required amount of real players, despite it focuses mostly on combat against bots.

Lastly, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, including AI matches, but that got canned when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the mode. So this new playlist seems like the community compromising halfway, according to forum feedback. A different user labels this mode as the devs "dropping the ball so hard, I experienced so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should the development team has proven anything to date with the latest installment, it is that they're listening and acting on player input. Assignments that were overly hard got fixed rapidly, just like the specific battle pass objectives. Chances are that, if their data shows this recent mode is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.