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Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios launched a new playlist called Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this option mirrors the standard Breakthrough format but features a few key changes:

• Each team has just eight real players, with the rest made up of AI-controlled opponents.
• Activities done by real players award full XP, while AI activities provide lower rewards.
• Just a pair of maps can be played: Cairo Siege and Empire State map.
• Features like Dogtags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.

So essentially, this mode lives up to its title: it offers a laid-back version of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think there's nothing wrong, since it provides additional choices for players seeking alternative ways to enjoy the game. But, if video games has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, a lot of BF6 players are upset.

Player Reactions: Anger to Support

"Gamers prefer real players. Avoid making the mistakes of your rivals," states a response to the mode reveal. "Absolutely shocking idea," comments a different user. At the same time, in community forums, a player notes, "It's unclear where we are going with this title," and another details all the issues they believe to be problematic in the game: "Resolve glitches, fix drone glitch, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this bot mode."

On the other hand, amid the criticism, some gamers explaining how much they're enjoying the recent addition. "It's very fun to warm up, real players prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says one Reddit comment. "This subreddit doesn't understand that there are players who actually go outside and can't play this title all the time. Let them find a middle ground," adds a different comment. One reply on Twitter clarifies that as they're "a battledad with busy schedules, this is perfect for me," while someone else applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Constructive Concerns and Player Input

All that said, players have constructive reasons to complain about the new mode. A few folks have highlighted that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes because of the sheer number of options in the game already. Similarly, some areas already encounter mostly bots in the existing playlists. Additionally, it appears somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a minimum number of human gamers, even though it primarily centers on combat against bots.

Finally, a major complaints is that Battlefield Portal was meant to offer full XP, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to remove bot farms from the mode. So this new playlist seems like the player base compromising halfway, as per a Reddit comment. Another describes this addition as the devs "dropping the ball so hard, I experienced so much fun in the initial release, why did they feel the need to change it?"

Future Prospects: Adjustments Occur?

Should Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something so far with Battlefield 6, it's that they're listening and responding to player input. Assignments being too difficult were adjusted rapidly, just like the required Redsec challenges. Chances are that, should analytics indicates this recent mode isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to change it again.