The Latest Relaxed Game Mode Sparks Heated Discussions Over AI Players, Experience Points, and Wait Times
Recently, Battlefield Studios launched a new game mode titled Relaxed Breakthrough. To put it simply, this option resembles the standard Breakthrough format but includes several notable adjustments:
- Every squad includes only eight real players, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
- Activities done by real players award complete experience points, while AI activities offer lower rewards.
- Just a pair of locations can be played: Siege of Cairo and Empire State.
- Elements like Player tags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.
In short, the playlist lives up to its name: it's a casual version of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume there's nothing wrong, since it gives additional choices for gamers seeking different ways to have fun with the title. But, gaming history have taught us anything, it is that not everyone will be happy. In other words, many BF6 players are mad.
Player Responses: From Fury to Support
"People want human opponents. Avoid making the mistakes of your rivals," reads a response to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking concept," says another. At the same time, on the Battlefield subreddit, a player remarks, "I have no idea where we are headed with this title," and someone else details all the issues they believe to be problematic in the game: "Fix bugs, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, improve hit detection. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."
On the other hand, amid the criticism, some gamers sharing how much they're liking the recent addition. "It's very fun to practice, human participants prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and can't play this game 24/7. Let them find a middle ground," adds another. A response via social media explains that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," while another applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."
Valid Criticisms and Player Feedback
Despite the support, there are constructive reasons to criticize Casual Breakthrough. Some users have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes due to the large amount of playlists currently available. On a similar note, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the existing playlists. It also seems a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a required amount of human gamers, despite it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.
Finally, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was promised to offer full XP, including AI matches, but that got canned when they attempted to remove bot farms from the system. Thus this new playlist feels like the player base compromising in the middle, as per a Reddit comment. Another describes this addition as the devs "making a mistake significantly, I had so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"
Future Prospects: Adjustments Occur?
If Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something to date with Battlefield 6, it is that they're listening and responding to feedback. Tasks being too difficult got fixed rapidly, as did the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, if their data shows this recent mode isn't performing to their expectations, they will not hesitate to change it again.