🔗 Share this article

Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a fresh game mode called Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the regular Breakthrough format but includes several notable adjustments:

• Each team has only 8 human participants, with the remaining filled by AI-controlled opponents.
• Actions done by human gamers grant complete experience points, while AI activities provide reduced XP.
• Just a pair of locations are available: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Features like Dogtags, achievements, and career stat updates have been turned off.

So essentially, this mode delivers on its title: it's a laid-back take of Breakthrough. At face value, one could assume there's nothing wrong, as it provides more options for gamers seeking different ways to have fun with the game. However, gaming history has shown one thing, it's that not everyone will be happy. In other words, a lot of BF6 players are mad.

Player Reactions: From Fury to Praise

"Gamers prefer real players. Don't repeat the errors of your competitors," states a response to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing concept," says a different user. Meanwhile, in community forums, one user remarks, "It's unclear where we are headed with this title," and someone else lists everything they believe to be broken in Battlefield 6: "Fix bugs, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, adjust aiming after sprinting, 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 enjoying the new mode. "It's very fun to practice, real players prevent it from being a complete grind but it's quite laid-back," says a forum post. "The community doesn't understand that there are players who have lives and don't play this game all the time. Allow them to strike a balance," adds a different comment. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a parent gamer with busy schedules, this is great for me," while another applauds the mode for "avoiding intense competition."

Constructive Concerns and Community Feedback

All that said, players have constructive reasons to criticize the new mode. Some users have highlighted that it could increase wait times more extended for other modes because of the sheer number of playlists in the game already. Similarly, certain regions often face AI-filled matches in the existing playlists. It also seems somewhat counterintuitive that the mode does not begin without a required amount of real players, even though it focuses mostly on fighting AI opponents.

Lastly, one of the biggest grievances is that Battlefield Portal was meant to provide complete rewards, including AI matches, but that was removed when they tried to remove XP farming from the mode. Thus Casual Breakthrough feels like the player base compromising in the middle, as per a Reddit comment. A different user describes this mode as the devs "making a mistake so hard, I experienced great enjoyment in the first couple of days, what prompted them to change it?"

Future Prospects: Will Changes Be Made?

Should the development team has demonstrated something to date with Battlefield 6, it is that they're paying attention and responding to feedback. Tasks being too difficult got fixed very quickly, as did the specific battle pass objectives. It is likely that, should analytics indicates this new playlist isn't performing to their standards, they won't be shy to make further modifications.