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Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a new game mode titled Relaxed Breakthrough. To put it simply, this mode mirrors the standard Breakthrough format but features a few notable changes:

• Each team has only eight real players, with the remaining filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities done by real players grant complete experience points, while bot actions offer lower rewards.
• Just a pair of maps are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State.
• Features like Player tags, achievements, and career stat updates are disabled.

In short, this mode lives up to its title: it offers a casual take of Breakthrough. On the surface, you might think it's a good idea, as it gives more options for players seeking different methods to have fun with the game. However, if video games has shown one thing, it is that not everyone will be happy. Which is to say, many BF6 players are upset.

Player Reactions: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Don't repeat the mistakes of your competitors," states a response to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing idea," comments another. At the same time, in community forums, a player remarks, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," and another details all the issues they believe to be problematic in the game: "Fix bugs, fix drone glitch, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, improve hit detection. We do not require this AI-heavy playlist."

On the other hand, amid the criticism, there are players sharing how much they're liking the new mode. "It's enjoyable to practice, human participants prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," reads a forum post. "This subreddit fails to see that there are players who actually go outside and don't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," adds another. One reply via social media explains that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is great for me," while another praises the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Constructive Criticisms and Player Feedback

All that said, there are valid points to criticize the new mode. A few folks have pointed out that it could increase queue times even longer for different playlists because of the sheer number of playlists in the game already. On a similar note, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. Additionally, it appears a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a required amount of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Lastly, a major grievances is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide full XP, including AI matches, but that got canned when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the system. So Casual Breakthrough seems like the community meeting them in the middle, according to forum feedback. A different user describes this addition as the developers "dropping the ball significantly, I experienced so much fun in the initial release, why did they feel the need to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Adjustments Occur?

If the development team has proven anything so far with Battlefield 6, it's that they're listening and responding to player input. Assignments being too difficult got fixed very quickly, as did the specific battle pass objectives. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to make further modifications.