The Latest Relaxed Playlist Sparks Intense Discussions Over Bots, Experience Points, and Queue Times
Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a fresh game mode called Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this option mirrors the regular Breakthrough format but features several notable adjustments:
- Each team has only eight human participants, with the rest filled by 32 bots.
- Activities done by human gamers grant full XP, while bot actions offer lower rewards.
- Only two locations are available: Cairo Siege and Empire State map.
- Features like Player tags, accolades, and career stat updates are disabled.
In short, this mode lives up to its name: it's a laid-back take of Breakthrough. On the surface, you might think it's a good idea, since it provides more options for gamers looking for alternative methods to enjoy the title. However, if video games has shown one thing, it is that you can't please everyone. In other words, many BF6 fans are mad.
Community Responses: From Fury to Support
"Gamers prefer human opponents. Avoid making the errors of your rivals," states a response to the mode reveal. "Truly disappointing concept," comments another. At the same time, on the Battlefield subreddit, one user remarks, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," while someone else lists all the issues they believe to be problematic in Battlefield 6: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, correct rocket mechanics, adjust aiming after sprinting, fix awful hit registration. We don't need this AI-heavy playlist."
On the other hand, for every complaint, there are players explaining how much they're liking the new mode. "It's very fun to warm up, real players prevent it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," says a forum post. "This subreddit fails to see that there are gamers who have lives and don't play this title all the time. Allow them to find a middle ground," adds another. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a parent gamer with limited time, this is perfect for me," and someone else praises the mode for "avoiding intense competition."
Valid Criticisms and Player Input
All that said, players have constructive reasons to criticize the new mode. A few folks have highlighted that it will make queue times even longer for different playlists due to the sheer number of options currently available. Similarly, some areas already encounter AI-filled matches in the current modes. It also seems a little backwards that the mode won't start without a minimum number of human gamers, despite it focuses mostly on combat against bots.
Lastly, a major grievances is that a previous feature was promised to provide complete rewards, even against bots, but that was removed when they tried to remove XP farming from the system. Thus Casual Breakthrough feels like the community compromising in the middle, according to forum feedback. A different user describes this mode as the developers "making a mistake significantly, I had so much fun in the initial release, what prompted them to change it?"
Future Prospects: Adjustments Be Made?
If Battlefield Studios has proven anything to date with the latest installment, it's that they're listening and acting on player input. Assignments being too difficult were adjusted very quickly, just like the specific battle pass objectives. It is likely that, should analytics shows this new playlist is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to change it again.