Verified modes in Portal should absolutely be playable with bots and allow for normal XP and weapon progression (as advertised) That's all most of us casual gamers want. I don't understand how they couldn't include a solo / co-op mode in this game. Instead of building on what works EA just makes the same mistakes over and over again.
The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
The laws need to be changed with regards to this false advertisement. A bunch of us older gamers bought this game for the promise of playing the way we want on Portal and still have normal XP and weapon progression, only to have the rug yanked out from underneath us 2 weeks in.
EA is punishing the casual gamer because of their lack of oversight.
I would however, like to say thank you to the ones who created Conquest on Portal with bots (which also allowed progression) as it was a ton of fun while it lasted. Too bad EA nerfed those to the ground too.