Where do I start...

I've played a good chunk of Battlefield games over the years, starting with BF1942. After Battlefield 3, 4, and Hardline, everything became repetitive, each game requiring you to unlock the same weapons, attachments, and trying to accomplish mundane / shortsighted challenges or achievements. I hadn't played any of the BF games since, allowing things to perhaps mature, then there was BF2042 which I approached with caution... I was not surprised when I saw the overflowing negativity and the direction that EA/DICE was taking.

When you have something unique, focus on that... It's become all too common for a company with loyal consumers to drastically change a product that ultimately turns people away.

Then we get the Battlefield 6 Beta, and I was feeling hopeful as it was pretty fun. The initial release of BF6 felt the same way too, like the community was finally getting a Battlefield game that was worthy of the title. A lot of players will agree they felt the same way. Then came the updates that now try to milk you out of more money, turn the UI into a storepage, reinvent another Battle Royale style game, and completely neglect the community by adding garbage gamemodes and neglecting things that the community actually desires.

For starters, I'm not here to play Battlefield Royale... If that's your thing, cool! However, I certainly feel that it should not be attached to BF6... Now it's cluttering things more in the menu, storepage, and comes packed with challenges, achievements, and unlocks I could really care less about... I'd even be okay with a setting in the menu that allows you to opt out from it entirely (not just an install/uninstall).

Next, I'm confused about the direction the development team has taken regarding weapons, vehicles, player models, and certain mechanics... This is not CoD or Fortnite... It's blatantly obvious that some of the development team come from these backgrounds and are trying to reinvent those things here. This is where I personally have a problem with this... While pandering to a minority of younger players and/or streamers that prefer to run around with completely unrealistic kit (weapons or character skins / models) that I prefer not to use... Why can't you give players that want a more immersive look and feel more realistic camo patterns, character models, and plain weapon colors, such as black, tan, olive drab, etc? I was quite baffled that at launch the vast majority of patterns (camo and otherwise) were unappealing or highly unrealistic. Yes, there are some decent ones, but no plain colors... At least we got the US Army Ranger pack which was quite a nice touch, but shouldn't more of that content exist already? I have no problem supporting the Ranger Association or other future purchasable content that supports good relatable (military) causes. But the fact of the matter is, the majority of content is ridiculous and more content needs to be added to outweigh or atleast balance the options that currently exist. What exactly is the logic behind spray painting a vest with bright orange and yellow? If that's the case, you might as well run around wearing a hi-visibility traffic vest.

What made the Battlefield games so much fun for me in the past, was the simplicity, attention to detail, and the ability to play the game how you wanted. Modifications for BF1942, Vietnam, and BF2 greatly enhanced replayability and kept those games alive for many years. Most of the newer generation of gamers probably don't know that quite a few modifications had a huge impact on the franchise, such as Desert Combat. I get that things change over time and people want more (unlocks, achievements, progression, etc), but sometimes I miss just loading into a game and playing it without having to worry about trying to complete frustrating / unreasonable tasks just to unlock something. Battlefield Friends (if you've never watched it, please do), where the Commander says "I just unlocked the bipod for my knife" couldn't be any closer to the truth...

This is where I'm going to mention the ongoing communities concerns regarding bots... BF1942, BFv, BF2, BF2142, and apparently 2042 all had bots... It's not a new concept and there are players out there for a variety of reasons that would prefer to play with bots. I am personally 50/50 on this, as there are times where I prefer to be competitive and play against other players, and there are other times I just want to throw on some music and kill at my own leisure. Unfortunately, Battlefield 6 has become quite frustrating in this regard and the indecisive direction that's being taken is muddying things further... The solution in my opinion is quite simple... If bot farms were becoming an issue and needed to be addressed, then a vanilla / default COOP mode should have been created without the need for Portal Experiences. Similar to Casual Breakthrough that we have now, except without the 8 player requirement. As bots are much easier to defeat (and they could actual use some improvement), I totally understand nerfing some of the experience, but to completely neuter COOP/Singeplayer gameplay into what it is now is just irritating and shortsighted. Half the time, I want to play Battlefield (Conquest, the OG gamemode) and kill some bots while jamming out for an hour or two before winding down to go to sleep. I really don't think this is much to ask for. I was starting to feel hopeful as Casual Breakthrough came online, then added a couple more maps, and now it's back down to Cairo and Empire State...

As for Gamemodes... Why?... Just... Why?... I can understand the popular ones, but this is like a restaurant with too many items on the menu... This becomes a case of being a jack of all trades, but a master of none of them. I don't mind having the Portal Experience section, but any experimental, developer or community made modes that stray away from "typical Battlefield" need to be put strictly into that section and not have challenges attached to them forcing people to play them. If people like something, they'll naturally flock to it. I played 3 rounds of this new Sabotage mode and I'm extremely turned off by it... It's not balanced properly, it's too short, and too small. I was put on the attacking side all 3 times and the team I was on lost every time within two minutes of joining.

Now, Maps... The community wants some bigger maps. Maps with a good balance between engaging firefights at objectives and some breathing room in between. Not everything has to be like Metro from BF3 / 4... Again, not CoD either...

The thing that makes Battlefield unique is the strategy, teamwork, and a little bit of immersion. It's not a Milsim like ArmA, but it certainly shouldn't be Rainbow 6 Siege either. It's like the current direction is to try building on what other games have, rather than building on the existing strengths that players are coming here for. If I want a run and gun fast pace shooter, a combat aviation simulator, or to play whatever the heck that cartoony jump around killing game with the flying school bus is, I'll seek out those games, as should others.

To summarize my thoughts here for the TLDR folks that can't be bothered to read (important skillset btw):
-Make Battlefield Great Again
-Focus on the things that made Battlefield great in the past, rather than trying to cater to other fanbases to attract a few toxic players
-Cut down on the Battle Pass / Pro stuff... I can't believe people even buy into it (to each their own), but this is like cramming ads down your throat when you already pay for a product, subscription, and the company still pesters you for more, it just turns people off instead.
-Separate the Battle Royal stuff from BF6 or add an option to opt out (menu/challenges).
-Bring back some of the immersion with realistic items / camos / skins
-Allow players to play the game the way that they want, bots or not...
-Focus on popular well know Gamemodes and leave the rest to the community and Portal section.
-Add some larger maps for variety and bring back some of the breathing room that existed previously.

At the end of the day, I'm just a lowly player that's seen the franchise through it's up's and down's, and these are the opinions I have regarding BF6 and the current direction.