Implementing a separate progression for Portal modes vs. Official modes would have solved this entire problem. IF they had come out and said "We're turning off XP and Progression in Portal until we can develop and deploy split progression" I think a lot of the frustration from part of the player base would have been lessened.
Dice/EA could have done any number of other things in Portal to make bot farming less appealing while not nuking the entire progression piece. Just make portal give 10 or 15% of the total experience if bots were enabled in Verified modes. Or only allow weapon attachment progress. Or just allow core XP and have all attachments completely unlocked only for portal with no cross over. Or separate progression for portal modes from full PVP modes.... Instead they took the easy way out and then doubled down on it.
As someone who has a disability that effects my hands, the fact that BF6 was advertised as having full XP and Progression in Verified Portal modes with bot backfill was one of the main reasons I bought it in the first place. Being able to join a game with a few friends and backfill with bots actually let me feel like I had a chance and also let me make progress. Full lobbies of human players and I'm just staring at a revive prompt. Wow, what fun. Got maybe 5 hours of total play time before they nuked the main reason for my purchase. My choices now are try and get a refund or put the game on the shelf and hope Dice/EA eventually let us progress stuff in Verified Portal modes with bots. Considering their recent statement that bots are being removed everywhere, guess I'll need to fight for a refund.
