After its Portal XP nerf, Battlefield 6 brings bots back to servers with Verified Experiences — here’s how they work after the update

by

As a huge Battlefield fan, I’ve been following the launch of Battlefield 6, and wow, what a month it’s been! The game was an instant success, shooting straight to the top of the Steam charts. I was amazed to hear it sold 7 million copies in just three days! It’s been consistently at the top of the best-sellers list and has had incredible player numbers for weeks now – it’s really great to see!

Battlefield recently had a very successful launch, with Season 1 of Battlefield 6 and the free-to-play game REDSEC adding to its popularity in October. While players generally like the gameplay, shooting mechanics, and overall design, many have expressed strong criticism of how the game handles player progression.

Battlefield 6 players found that unlocking weapons, gadgets, and character customizations required completing very difficult challenges. This led to many people creating and using automated programs (bots) on custom game servers within the Portal mode. To address this, Battlefield Studios significantly reduced the experience points (XP) earned in custom games and completely removed bots from official, standard game modes.

Okay, so there was quite a bit of pushback on those recent changes, but the developers stuck to their guns. They *did* mention they were thinking about bringing bots back to Verified Experiences, and now they have! It’s not a full return though – there are definitely some limitations in place this time around.

Battlefield Studios announced on Thursday that bots are now available to fill empty spaces in standard Conquest, Breakthrough, and Rush Portal servers. You can start using them right away! However, there are a few things to keep in mind, which are explained below.

When bot backfill is turned on, each game mode can support up to 12 bots, with a limit of six bots per team. This means games will start more quickly because only eight real players are needed to fill a 20-player lobby – the bots will make up the remaining 12. Without bot backfill, a full 20 real players would be required to begin a game.

You’ll earn much less experience – only 10% – for defeating bots in Verified Experiences. However, you’ll get the full 100% experience for defeating other players, just like in a normal multiplayer match. Good news – you can still complete Challenges even when bots are in the game.

Currently, enabling bots on Portal servers is unintentionally stopping players from earning progress on stats like playtime, kill/death ratio, and revives. Battlefield Studios has acknowledged this issue and says they are working on a fix.

Considering Battlefield 6 recently made its challenges easier and lowered XP gains in custom games, this seems like a good fix. It lets server owners who use official, verified experiences add bots without letting them be exploited to unfairly boost XP and disrupt the Portal matchmaking system.

Some people will always be upset about bots being available on servers, feeling they shouldn’t be allowed at all. Others want to be able to fully level up by defeating these bots, even though it’s much simpler than fighting real players.

Battlefield Studios seems to have found a sweet spot with their latest offering, likely satisfying most players.

Overall, bots are clearly helpful for launching new Portal servers, and limiting XP farming by bots is a good way to ensure genuine Portal gameplay gets the attention it deserves. Because of this, I believe Battlefield Studios has found a reasonable compromise that most players will appreciate.

As a researcher following Battlefield 6, I’m really encouraged by the recent changes. The significant reduction in difficulty for the ‘Challenge’ mode is a big improvement, and the fact that they’ve disabled the problematic MR Missile exploit on the IFV while they rework it is fantastic. Honestly, it feels like the team has addressed most of the game’s major issues at this point.

Battlefield 6 is a top shooter released in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5, typically costing $69.99. However, you can currently find the Xbox version for a discounted price of $59.39 at Loaded.

Read More

2025-11-07 03:10