🔗 Share this article

Recently, the game developers launched a new game mode titled Casual Breakthrough. In essence, this option resembles the regular Breakthrough format but features several key changes:

• Each team includes just 8 real players, with the rest filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities done by human gamers grant complete experience points, while AI activities provide lower rewards.
• Just a pair of maps can be played: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
• Features like Dogtags, accolades, and stat tracking have been turned off.

In short, the playlist lives up to its title: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume it's a good idea, since it gives additional choices for players seeking alternative ways to enjoy the title. But, if video games has shown one thing, it is that you can't please everyone. In other words, many BF6 fans are upset.

Community Responses: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Don't repeat the mistakes of your rivals," reads a response to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking concept," comments another. At the same time, in community forums, a player remarks, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," while someone else lists all the issues they consider to be broken in the game: "Fix bugs, address drone issues, fix IVF rockets, adjust aiming after sprinting, improve hit detection. We don't need this bot mode."

However, for every complaint, some gamers explaining how much they're liking the new mode. "It's very fun to warm up, human participants keep it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says a forum post. "The community doesn't understand that there are players who have lives and don't play this title all the time. Allow them to strike a balance," states a different comment. One reply via social media explains that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is great for me," while another praises the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Constructive Criticisms and Community Feedback

All that said, players have valid points to criticize Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have highlighted that it will make queue times even longer for other modes due to the sheer number of playlists currently available. On a similar note, some areas already encounter AI-filled matches in the current modes. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a required amount of real players, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Finally, a major grievances is that a previous feature was promised to offer complete rewards, even against bots, but that was removed when they attempted to remove bot farms from the mode. Thus this new playlist feels like the player base meeting them in the middle, as per a Reddit comment. A different user labels this addition as the devs "making a mistake so hard, I experienced great enjoyment in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Future Prospects: Adjustments Be Made?

If Battlefield Studios has proven anything so far with Battlefield 6, it's that they're paying attention and acting on player input. Assignments that were overly hard got fixed very quickly, just like the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, if their data indicates this recent mode is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to change it again.