🔗 Share this article

Recently, Battlefield Studios launched a fresh game mode titled Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option resembles the standard Breakthrough format but features a few notable changes:

• Every squad has only 8 human participants, with the remaining made up of AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities done by real players grant full XP, while bot actions provide lower rewards.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
• Elements like Player tags, accolades, and stat tracking are disabled.

So essentially, the playlist lives up to its title: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. On the surface, you might think it's a good idea, since it provides additional choices for gamers seeking different ways to enjoy the game. However, if video games has shown one thing, it is that you can't please everyone. In other words, a lot of Battlefield 6 fans are mad.

Community Responses: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer human opponents. Avoid making the errors of your competitors," reads a response to the official announcement. "Absolutely shocking concept," says another. Meanwhile, on the Battlefield subreddit, one user notes, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," while someone else details everything they consider to be broken in Battlefield 6: "Fix bugs, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, adjust aiming after sprinting, fix awful hit registration. We do not require this bot mode."

However, for every complaint, some gamers sharing how much they're enjoying the recent addition. "It's enjoyable to practice, real players prevent it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," reads a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and can't play this title 24/7. Allow them to find a middle ground," adds a different comment. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is perfect for me," while another applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Concerns and Player Feedback

All that said, players have valid points to criticize Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have highlighted that it will make wait times even longer for different playlists due to the large amount of playlists currently available. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. Additionally, it appears somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a required amount of real players, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Finally, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to offer complete rewards, including AI matches, but that got canned when they attempted to remove bot farms from the mode. So Casual Breakthrough seems like the community compromising in the middle, according to forum feedback. Another labels this addition as the developers "dropping the ball so hard, I experienced so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should the development team has demonstrated something so far with Battlefield 6, it's that they're listening and responding to player input. Tasks being too difficult got fixed very quickly, just like the specific battle pass objectives. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.