EA/DICE Took Away a Legit Way to Play Battlefield 6 – And Pushed Casual & Older Players Out

Hello everyone,
this post is about playing against bots in Battlefield 6 and why removing this option is actively hurting the game and its community.

At launch, Battlefield 6 allowed players to create their own Portal servers and play bots vs bots, with full AI teams on both sides.
No PvP. No sweat. No being farmed by people playing 8 hours a day.

For me, this was perfect.

I genuinely loved the game. The gunplay felt great, the visuals were strong, and for the first time in years, Battlefield respected the fact that not every player wants or is able to compete in PvP. Because of that, I even spent a significant amount of money on in-game currency. I wanted to support the developers because I was finally having fun.

Then it was taken away.

Under the excuse of “fighting XP farms”, EA/DICE removed the ability to properly play solo vs bots, despite the fact that this feature was clearly shown and allowed at launch.

Let me be blunt.
I am almost 40 years old. I am not a good FPS player. My reflexes are not those of a 16-year-old hopped up on energy drinks. I get zero enjoyment from multiplayer matches where my only role is being cannon fodder for others.

That does not make me a cheater.
That does not make me a problem.

In Battlefield 2042, a game that was heavily criticized for many reasons, one thing was done right:
you could still play against bots, earn progression, upgrade weapons, and enjoy the sandbox at your own pace.

Ironically, because Battlefield 6 removed this option, I went back to Battlefield 2042. Not because it is better overall, but because it respects how I want to play.

Here is the core issue:
XP farms still exist.

Anyone familiar with Battlefield Portal scripting knows this. There are still dozens of servers farming weapon levels and XP. So what actually happened?

• Cheaters and exploiters adapted
• Casual, solo, older and weaker players got punished
• The real problem was NOT solved

This is bad design.

So here is a simple, proven solution that already exists in other franchises and even previous Battlefield titles:

Separate progression profiles.

• One profile for PvP / competitive multiplayer
• One profile for solo / co-op / bots
• Slower XP? Fine
• Limited progression? Fine
• Zero PvP impact? Also fine

Call of Duty has done this.
Battlefield 2042 still does this.

Why can’t Battlefield 6?

We are not asking to dominate multiplayer.
We are not asking for unfair advantages.

We are asking for the right to play the game we paid for, in a way that was advertised at launch.

Thousands of players like me exist. Older players. Casual players. Disabled players. Players with limited time. Players who would gladly keep playing, keep spending money, and keep the servers alive.

Instead, many simply leave.

This is one of the reasons Battlefield 6 struggles with player retention. When you tell people “play our way or don’t play at all”, many will choose the second option.

The irony is painful:
Every week I still boot up Battlefield 6, create a Portal server, hoping something has changed.

Nothing has.

Please, EA and DICE, if anyone from the team is reading this:

• Restore proper solo vs bots servers
• Allow local or private hosting
• Add bot difficulty tiers (Beginner → Advanced → Master)
• Adjust XP and weapon progression accordingly
• Stop punishing honest players for problems you haven’t actually fixed

Battlefield 6 has great gunplay, strong visuals, and real potential.
But you removed the core enjoyment for players like me.

Give us back the option to enjoy this game.
Changing the rules after launch was not fair.

And many of us are still waiting.

I do hope they do something soon, really enjoyed shooting up bots with my friends casually when the game first launched.

This is what Battlefield is supposed to be: sandbox fun with friends.
Bots vs bots never hurt PvP. Removing it was unnecessary.

I hope we'll get something back, even what BF2042 had... But I think the investors have spoken and they don't care for the opinion of anyone else. The PvP audience have been asking for server browser and EA/DICE simply won't hear any of it. It's our way or the highway.

They've lost a customer in me and several of my friends. Our time is precious and we play other games now.

I’ve just written this off as money poorly spent and will be actively avoiding any BF game in future, worst bait and switch I’ve ever been a part of.

My first BF game was 1942.

This is exactly the issue.
It’s not about bots vs PvP, it’s about player retention and trust.
When features shown at launch get removed later, people don’t argue — they just leave.

I hear you.
Losing bots vs bots is exactly the kind of bait-and-switch that pushes longtime players away.
BF1942 to BF6 — some things should stay, not disappear for no good reason.

I haven't touch the game since they removed bots. If they backtrack I'll probably return, until then, other games took over.

uh conquest and breakthrough caual is as stated super casual, older battlefields didnt have this? (bf2,badcompany1,2 , bf3)

Battlefield is one of my favorite games. But they big time did wrong with the community when they launched.

They burned casual players like they learned nothing from 2042’s portal. New Battle Pass Light pricing is despicable. Get rid of the light option, or transition to fully F2P.

PS. The Portal is still absolutely useless since you killed it at launch. Nobody uses it. If you want actual PvP, try a playlist and you’re still killing bots.

And Battle Royale? Fortnite battlefield is the last thing this community was asking for. You may have had some success with it, but what did you expect in the long-term? The hype train would take you to long-term success? This is not an IQ test. It’s common sense.

Casuals and people that call themselves some stupid shit like „battledad“ are not the target audience for (shooter) gaming studios.

No Dev in the world can bring your childhood back, get over it manchilds.

Was excited for Portal this time around but it’s turned out to be a massive disappointment. Will probably not buy BF in the future.

No they didn't. Casual and older players are fine.

Cry more please.

I commented this in another post, in that EA/DICE fucked up so badly to an issue that was so simple to resolve: Just reduce the fucking exp when we kill bots. Drop it to 1/4 of a player kill, hell, drop it to 1/10 for all I care. The PvE players will still play, will still WANT to buy the futher battle passes, will still enjoy the game and more importantly, will still WANT to support the game.

But noooo... They nukes it to ashes, to the point Portal is effectively useless. I physically feel bad for all the portal map creators who put in so much effort to create new maps because I know very few will even bother to try them without any sort of weapons progression. Seriously, the rate at which EA/DICE fucks up Golden Goose games is some sort of mandatory KPI by now. Fucking joke, really, and a complete damn shame.

I ended up buying bo7 and play the bot mode.