The Latest Relaxed Game Mode Ignites Heated Debates Regarding AI Players, XP Rewards, and Queue Times
Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a new playlist called Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the standard Breakthrough setup but includes a few key changes:
- Each team includes just eight human participants, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
- Actions done by human gamers grant complete experience points, while bot actions provide reduced XP.
- Just a pair of locations can be played: Cairo Siege and Empire State.
- Features like Player tags, achievements, and stat tracking are disabled.
So essentially, the playlist delivers on its title: it offers a laid-back take of Breakthrough. At face value, you might think there's nothing wrong, as it provides additional choices for players looking for different methods to have fun with the game. But, if video games has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. In other words, many BF6 players are mad.
Player Responses: From Fury to Support
"People want real players. Don't repeat the errors of your rivals," reads one reply to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing idea," comments a different user. At the same time, on the Battlefield subreddit, one user notes, "I have no idea where we are headed with this game," and another lists all the issues they believe to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."
However, for every complaint, there are players explaining how much they're enjoying the recent addition. "It's very fun to practice, human participants keep it from being a total farmfest but it's quite laid-back," reads a forum post. "The community fails to see that there are players who have lives and can't play this game 24/7. Allow them to find a middle ground," states a different comment. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is great for me," and another praises the mode for "not being overcompetitive."
Valid Criticisms and Player Input
All that said, there are constructive reasons to complain about the new mode. Some users have pointed out that it could increase queue times even longer for other modes due to the sheer number of playlists currently available. On a similar note, some areas often face mostly bots in the existing playlists. Additionally, it appears a little backwards that the mode does not begin without a minimum number of human gamers, despite it primarily centers on combat against bots.
Lastly, one of the biggest grievances is that a previous feature was meant to provide complete rewards, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the system. Thus Casual Breakthrough feels like the player base compromising in the middle, according to a Reddit comment. A different user describes this mode as the developers "dropping the ball significantly, I had so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to adjust it?"
Looking Ahead: Adjustments Occur?
Should the development team has demonstrated something to date with the latest installment, it's that they're listening and acting on feedback. Tasks being too difficult got fixed rapidly, 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 change it again.