The Latest Casual Game Mode Sparks Intense Discussions Over AI Players, XP Rewards, and Queue Times
Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a fresh playlist called Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the standard Breakthrough setup but features several key adjustments:
- Each team includes just 8 human participants, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
- Activities performed by real players award complete experience points, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
- Just a pair of locations are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State map.
- Features like Dogtags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.
In short, the playlist lives up to its name: it offers a casual version of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume there's nothing wrong, since it provides additional choices for gamers looking for different ways to enjoy the title. But, if video games have taught us anything, it is that you can't please everyone. In other words, a lot of Battlefield 6 fans are mad.
Community Reactions: Anger to Support
"People want human opponents. Avoid making the errors of your competitors," states a response to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing concept," says another. Meanwhile, in community forums, one user notes, "It's unclear where we are headed with this title," and another lists everything they consider to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, 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 recent addition. "It's very fun to warm up, real players keep it from being a total farmfest but it's quite laid-back," reads a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are gamers who have lives and can't play this game 24/7. Allow them to strike a balance," adds another. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a parent gamer with busy schedules, this is great for me," and another applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."
Valid Criticisms and Player Feedback
All that said, players have constructive reasons to complain about Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have pointed out that it will make queue times even longer for different playlists due to the large amount of options currently available. On a similar note, some areas often face mostly bots in the existing playlists. It also seems a little backwards that the mode won't start without a minimum number of real players, despite it primarily centers on combat against bots.
Finally, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to remove XP farming from the system. Thus this new playlist feels like the community meeting them halfway, as per forum feedback. A different user describes this addition as the developers "dropping the ball so hard, I experienced great enjoyment in the first couple of days, what prompted them to change it?"
Future Prospects: Will Changes Be Made?
Should the development team has demonstrated something to date with the latest installment, it's that they're listening and responding to feedback. Tasks being too difficult were adjusted very quickly, as did the specific battle pass objectives. It is likely that, should analytics shows this new playlist isn't performing to their expectations, they won't be shy to change it again.