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Over the weekend, Battlefield Studios introduced a fresh playlist titled Relaxed Breakthrough. In essence, this mode mirrors the standard Breakthrough setup but features several notable adjustments:

• Each team includes only 8 human participants, with the rest made up of AI-controlled opponents.
• Actions performed by human gamers grant full XP, while AI activities offer lower rewards.
• Just a pair of maps can be played: Siege of Cairo and Empire State map.
• Features like Player tags, accolades, and career stat updates have been turned off.

So essentially, the playlist lives up to its title: it offers a casual take of Breakthrough. On the surface, one could assume there's nothing wrong, since it provides more options for players seeking alternative ways to enjoy the title. However, if video games has shown one thing, it's that you can't please everyone. Which is to say, many Battlefield 6 players are mad.

Player Responses: From Fury to Praise

"People want real players. Avoid making the mistakes of your rivals," reads one reply to the official announcement. "Truly disappointing idea," comments another. Meanwhile, in community forums, a player remarks, "It's unclear where we are headed with this game," and another lists everything they believe to be broken in the game: "Resolve glitches, address drone issues, fix IVF rockets, fix [the] bloom after sprinting bug, fix awful hit registration. We do not require this AI-heavy playlist."

On the other hand, for every complaint, there are players sharing how much they're liking the recent addition. "It's very fun to practice, real players keep it from being a total farmfest but it's very relaxed," reads a forum post. "This subreddit fails to see that there are gamers who actually go outside and don't play this title 24/7. Allow them to strike a balance," states another. One reply on Twitter explains that as they're "a battledad with limited time, this is great for me," and someone else applauds the mode for "not being overcompetitive."

Valid Concerns and Player Input

All that said, there are valid points to criticize the new mode. Some users have pointed out that it will make queue times even longer for different playlists due to the sheer number of options in the game already. Similarly, certain regions often face AI-filled matches in the existing playlists. It also seems a little backwards that the mode won't start without a minimum number of real players, even though it focuses mostly on combat against bots.

Lastly, one of the biggest grievances is that Battlefield Portal was meant to offer complete rewards, including AI matches, but that was removed when they tried to eliminate bot farms from the system. Thus this new playlist feels like the community compromising halfway, as per a Reddit comment. Another labels this mode as the devs "dropping the ball so hard, I experienced great enjoyment in the initial release, why did they feel the need to change it?"

Looking Ahead: Will Changes Be Made?

Should Battlefield Studios has demonstrated something to date with Battlefield 6, it is that they're listening and responding to player input. Tasks that were overly hard were adjusted rapidly, as did the required Redsec challenges. It is likely that, should analytics indicates this recent mode is underperforming to their expectations, they won't be shy to make further modifications.