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Over the weekend, the game developers introduced a new game mode called Relaxed Breakthrough. To put it simply, this mode resembles the standard Breakthrough setup but features several key changes:

• Each team includes just 8 human participants, with the rest made up of 32 bots.
• Activities performed by human gamers grant full XP, while bot actions provide lower rewards.
• Only two locations can be played: Cairo Siege and Empire State map.
• Elements like Player tags, accolades, and stat tracking have been turned off.

In short, the playlist delivers on its title: it offers a casual take of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume there's nothing wrong, since it gives additional choices for gamers looking for alternative methods to have fun with the title. But, gaming history have taught us anything, it is that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many Battlefield 6 fans are mad.

Community Reactions: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Avoid making the mistakes of your competitors," reads one reply to the official announcement. "Absolutely shocking concept," says another. Meanwhile, in community forums, a player remarks, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," while another details all the issues they consider to be problematic 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, amid the criticism, there are players explaining how much they're enjoying 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," says a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and don't play this game 24/7. Allow them to strike a balance," states another. One reply on Twitter clarifies 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 Concerns and Player Feedback

Despite the support, players have constructive reasons to criticize Casual Breakthrough. A few folks have highlighted that it could increase wait times even longer for other modes due to the large amount of playlists currently available. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the existing playlists. Additionally, it appears somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a minimum number of real players, even though it primarily centers on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest grievances is that Battlefield Portal was promised to offer full XP, including AI matches, but that was removed when they attempted to remove bot farms from the system. So this new playlist feels like the community meeting them in the middle, according to forum feedback. Another labels this addition as the devs "making a mistake so hard, I experienced great enjoyment in the initial release, what prompted them to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should the development team has demonstrated something so far with Battlefield 6, it's that they're paying attention and acting on player input. Assignments being too difficult got fixed rapidly, as did the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, if their data shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they will not hesitate to change it again.