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Over the weekend, the game developers introduced a new game mode titled Relaxed Breakthrough. To put it simply, this mode resembles the standard Breakthrough setup but includes several notable adjustments:

• Every squad includes just 8 human participants, with the remaining made up of 32 bots.
• Activities done by human gamers grant complete experience points, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
• Only two locations are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Features like Dogtags, achievements, and stat tracking have been turned off.

So essentially, the playlist lives up to its name: it's a casual take of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume it's a good idea, as it provides more options for gamers looking for alternative ways 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.

Player Reactions: Anger to Support

"People want human opponents. Avoid making the errors of your rivals," states one reply to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking idea," says a different user. Meanwhile, in community forums, a player remarks, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," and someone else details all the issues they consider to be broken in the game: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, improve hit detection. We don't need this bot mode."

However, amid the criticism, some gamers sharing how much they're enjoying the new mode. "It's very fun to warm up, 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 don't play this title 24/7. Allow them to find a middle ground," adds a different comment. A response via social media clarifies that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is perfect for me," and another praises the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Constructive Criticisms and Community Input

All that said, players have valid points to criticize the new mode. A few folks have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for different playlists because of the large amount of options in the game already. On a similar note, certain regions often face AI-filled matches in the existing playlists. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode won't start without a minimum number of real players, even though it primarily centers on fighting AI opponents.

Finally, a major complaints is that a previous feature was promised to offer full XP, even against bots, but that got canned when they attempted to remove bot farms from the mode. Thus Casual Breakthrough seems like the community meeting them halfway, according to forum feedback. A different user labels this mode as the devs "making a mistake significantly, I experienced so much fun in the first couple of days, why did they feel the need to adjust it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something to date with the latest installment, it's that they're listening and responding to player input. Tasks that were overly hard were adjusted very quickly, just like the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, if their data shows this new playlist isn't performing to their expectations, they won't be shy to change it again.