Make REDSEC More Accessible / Casual Duos

A little context about myself…

Earlier this year, I was involved in a serious car accident where a drunk and drugged driver slammed into me at an extreme speed. The accident left my internal organs severely damaged, and the consequences are something I am required to live with. One of those consequences is that I am required to monitor my blood pressure while playing video games. If I allow myself to become too stressed or push myself too far, I risk putting my health in serious danger.

I recognise that makes me different from the average player. Not everybody has to check their blood pressure before sitting down to play Battlefield. Not everybody has to think about whether a particularly intense game might be too much for them physically. I fully accept that I am an outlier in that respect.

But my situation is only one reason among many for why players want a more accessible way to experience REDSEC.

Personally, I love BF6. In fact, REDSEC changed my opinion of Battle Royale entirely. Before playing this game, I had never enjoyed the mode. My impression of Battle Royale had largely been shaped by Fortnite and Call of Duty, and I had always associated it with an experience that simply wasn't for me. To my surprise, BF6 managed to change that. There is very little about this game that I don't enjoy.

I'm also a completionist. I enjoy the challenge of a game and the satisfaction of earning everything there is to earn. I don't want everything handed to me. I don't want to remove difficulty from the game. What I do want is to be able to play the game I enjoy without constantly worrying about how much stress I am putting my body under.

There was a time when REDSEC gave me that option. Initiation Battle Royale (Casual Duos) was already part of the game. I'm not asking for EA or DICE to create something new. I'm asking for the return of something that was already there and that many players enjoyed.

For me, Casual Duos would make it possible to get back into gaming in a way that feels manageable. I can only play so many intense games before I have to stop and think about my health. The damage caused by my accident is not something I will ever be able to undo, but having an accessible way to play would make a genuine difference to how long and how comfortably I can enjoy the game.

That doesn't mean everyone who wants Casual Duos has a medical reason for wanting it.

They don't. And that's exactly the point.

There are players in their twenties who simply prefer a casual experience. There are Battle Dads in their forties, fifties and sixties who come home from work and want to relax with a game rather than spend every evening sweating through highly competitive matches. There are people who have stressful jobs, difficult days, young families and responsibilities. Sometimes, after getting home from work, having a shower and finally finding a little time for yourself, the last thing you want is to load BF6 up and feel like you've just started another shift.

And if someone simply isn't particularly good at the game, so what?

Gaming has never been made up of one type of person. Players are different ages, have different skill levels, different schedules, different responsibilities and different reasons for playing. Some people enjoy competition. Some enjoy Ranked, wanting every match to test them as much as possible. Others simply want to relax with friends and enjoy the game at a different pace.

None of those players are wrong.

The players who want Regular modes can continue playing Regular modes. The players who want Ranked can continue playing Ranked. Giving players who prefer a casual experience somewhere to play doesn't take those experiences away.

At the moment, REDSEC already offers Casual Quads (of which, I am beyond grateful), Regular Quads and Ranked Quads. The concern surrounding Casual Duos appears to be that there isn't enough of a player base to support it, but from the perspective of players who are actually asking for the mode, that doesn't necessarily reflect the number of people who would return or begin playing if it were available again.

There are players who stopped playing when Initiation Battle Royale was removed. There are players who currently don't bother with the regular modes because they aren't looking for that experience. There are also new players who may be interested in REDSEC but don't have an accessible place to learn it.

Casual modes can be a starting point.

That was arguably one of the main purposes behind Casual Quads: giving newer players an opportunity to learn the game and become familiar with the map. But Quads and Duos are completely different experiences. You cannot fully learn how to play Duos by playing with four people.

The way you approach fights is different. The way you rotate is different. The way you recover from engagements is different. The amount of information you have to manage changes significantly. A player can become comfortable playing Casual Quads and still find themselves entering Regular Duos with an entirely different playstyle to learn.

If the goal is to provide an easier entry point into REDSEC, then Casual Duos makes sense as part of that pathway. It allows players to learn the version of the game they actually want to play.

There is also a practical reason why Duos are more accessible than Quads for many people. Finding one friend to play with is achievable. However, finding three friends, all available at the same time, is considerably more difficult. For myself, trying to organise four people across different countries, time zones and schedules is difficult enough that it often becomes practically impossible.

Duos, on the other hand, is obtainable. However, geographical location creates another problem entirely.

After speaking with my Australian friend, and trying to find games with him, I discovered that for him, it can be extremely difficult to access certain REDSEC modes and even Multiplayer modes unless they are particularly popular playlists such as Breakthrough or Conquest. That leaves him with significantly fewer options than players in other regions.

As things stand, the only REDSEC experiences available to him are Casual Quads and Gauntlet. Ranked and the Duo/Solo rotation aren’t even available for him to matchmake in. And while Casual Quads may work perfectly for some, it doesn't mean it works for all.

That is another important part of accessibility. A game doesn't become accessible simply because there is one alternative mode available. Different players need different ways to experience it.

This is also why I believe player numbers should be reconsidered if Casual Duos were brought back. A mode cannot always demonstrate its full demand when players who want to play it have already left, given up on it being available, or live in regions where other versions of the mode are impossible to access in the first place.

Bringing back Initiation Battle Royale would give EA and DICE an opportunity to see what the demand actually looks like when the mode is available again. It could bring back players who stopped playing when it was removed while also giving new players somewhere to learn REDSEC without immediately being thrown into a more demanding environment.

I understand the concern that casual modes could be abused by highly skilled players looking for easier matches. There will always be people who try to exploit any system. But that shouldn't automatically mean the system itself has no value.

There are ways to address those concerns if necessary. While I don’t believe a Player’s Level should be considered as a cap, as I know folks who are 300+ who are terrible at the game, and it punishes those who continued to play in spite of Initiation being removed, I do believe a Player’s Statistics could potentially be reviewed.

I.e. if you have a REDSEC specific K:D of 1.5+, then fair enough.

But honestly, even then I don’t necessarily agree with having the mode be unobtainable for them. Why? Because chances are, even if you do have a bad experience in one game, the next won’t likely feature those same people. And the presence of bots alleviates that stress already. With Casual, you may get rushed by one team of good players, but the majority of the time, you are able to control the narrative.

Regardless, the existence of people who might abuse a casual mode shouldn't outweigh the existence of the people who genuinely benefit from one.

For me, this isn't about demanding that REDSEC be made easier for everyone. I don't want Regular or Ranked modes removed. I don't want competitive players told that their preferred experience is wrong, as some (not all) do to us casual players.

I just want the option that used to exist to exist again.

I want to be able to play with one other person rather than having to organise an entire squad. I want to enjoy REDSEC without every game becoming something I have to physically prepare myself for. I want to spend more time playing a game I genuinely love instead of having to turn it off after only a few matches because I have to put my health first.

And while my reasons may be unusual, the request itself isn't.

That's what I hope doesn't get lost (in this ridiculously long post, apologies to whoever has to read this).

To reiterate, I am not saying every player needs Casual Duos because of what happened to me. Most people don't have to live with the circumstances I do. Some players simply want somewhere to relax. Some are older. Some are younger. Some have demanding jobs. Some have families. Some live in regions where their options are limited. Some want to learn the game. Some can't regularly find three friends to form a squad. Some just prefer the way Duos plays.

Essentially, we're all different, but we're asking for the same thing.

Please bring back Initiation Battle Royale. Please bring back Casual Duos.

Not because every player has the same reason for wanting it, but because the Battlefield community is made up of people with different lives, different abilities, different schedules and different ways of playing.