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Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios launched a fresh game mode titled Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the standard Breakthrough setup but includes several key changes:

• Each team has only eight real players, with the rest filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Actions done by human gamers award full XP, while AI activities provide lower rewards.
• Only two locations are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Elements like Dogtags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.

So essentially, the playlist lives up to its title: it's a casual version of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think it's a good idea, as it provides more options for players seeking alternative ways to have fun with the title. However, gaming history has shown one thing, it's that not everyone will be happy. In other words, many BF6 players are upset.

Player Responses: From Fury to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Avoid making the errors of your competitors," reads one reply to the mode reveal. "Truly disappointing idea," says a different user. Meanwhile, in community forums, one user notes, "I have no idea where we are going with this title," and another details all the issues they believe to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."

However, amid the criticism, some gamers sharing how much they're enjoying the new mode. "It's enjoyable to practice, human participants keep it from being a complete grind but it's very relaxed," reads a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are players who have lives and can't play this game all the time. Let them find a middle ground," states another. One reply on Twitter clarifies that as they're "a battledad with limited time, this is perfect for me," while someone else praises the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Concerns and Player Feedback

All that said, players have valid points to criticize Casual Breakthrough. Some users have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes because of the sheer number of options currently available. Similarly, certain regions already encounter mostly bots in the current modes. Additionally, it appears somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a required amount of real players, despite it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to provide complete rewards, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to eliminate XP farming from the system. So this new playlist seems like the player base compromising in the middle, as per a Reddit comment. Another labels this addition as the developers "dropping the ball so hard, I had great enjoyment in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Adjustments Occur?

If the development team has proven anything to date with Battlefield 6, it's that they're listening and acting on feedback. Assignments being too difficult were adjusted rapidly, as did the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their standards, they won't be shy to change it again.