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Over the weekend, the game developers launched a fresh game mode titled Casual Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option resembles the standard Breakthrough setup but features several key changes:

• Each team includes only 8 human participants, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
• Activities performed by human gamers grant full XP, while bot actions offer reduced XP.
• Just a pair of locations are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State.
• Elements like Player tags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.

In short, the playlist delivers on its name: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume it's a good idea, since it gives more options for players looking for different methods to have fun with the game. But, if video games have taught us anything, it is that not everyone will be happy. In other words, many Battlefield 6 fans are upset.

Player Reactions: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Don't repeat the errors of your competitors," reads a response to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking concept," says another. At the same time, in community forums, one user remarks, "I have no idea where we are going with this game," while someone else lists everything they consider to be problematic in the game: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, adjust aiming after sprinting, fix awful hit registration. We do not require this AI-heavy playlist."

However, amid the criticism, some gamers explaining how much they're liking the recent addition. "It's enjoyable to warm up, human participants keep it from being a total farmfest but it's quite laid-back," says one Reddit comment. "This subreddit fails to see that there are players who have lives and can't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," adds a different comment. A response on Twitter explains that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," and someone else praises the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Criticisms and Player Feedback

All that said, players have valid points to complain about the new mode. A few folks have pointed out that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes because of the large amount of options in the game already. On a similar note, certain regions already encounter AI-filled matches in the current modes. It also seems a little backwards that the mode won't start without a required amount of real players, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Lastly, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide complete rewards, including AI matches, but that got canned when they attempted to remove bot farms from the mode. So this new playlist seems like the community meeting them in the middle, according to a Reddit comment. Another describes this mode as the devs "dropping the ball significantly, I experienced great enjoyment in the first couple of days, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Adjustments Be Made?

Should Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something so far with the latest installment, it's that they're listening and responding to feedback. Tasks being too difficult were adjusted rapidly, as did the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to change it again.