Battlefield 6's lethargic progression is getting a much-needed overhaul, but Portal is unsurprisingly paying the price after we all abused it

One of the biggest complaints lobbed at Battlefield 6 so far is that its progression systems are painfully slow. In fact, I complained about it just yesterday, and how it could impact Season 1. Career ranks aren't too bad, but they currently gate progression for important assignments for new guns and gadgets. Weapon XP, on the other hand, is frustratingly slow, which has only exacerbated tensions around the random bullet deviation epidemic that even the best guns suffer from.

Thankfully, Battlefield Studios has answered our calls and is implementing a number of substantial changes "to go live within the next week" to quicken the pace of progression: "Our goals here are to make the progression experience feel smoother and more rewarding while still keeping that sense of achievement when you complete a milestone like fully mastering a weapon."

Most importantly, the XP required to get any given gun to level 20 is being reduced, so you can start earning vital attachments "almost twice as fast". For most weapons, this'll give you access to most of the muzzles, grips, and barrels, though you'll still have to push on for the final few, and for most of the lasers.

While it's unlikely to actually benefit most current players (especially the dedicated, vocal bunch), the career rank requirements to unlock assignments are also being reduced, from 20, 23, and 26, down to 10, 15, and 20, respectively. Plus, the XP gained from match completion is being boosted by 10%, and the daily bonus by 40%. This means that you can start progressing these lengthy assignments much sooner, and hopefully complete them earlier as a result.

Battlefield Studios also explains that it'll be taking a look at the assignment challenges themselves in the future, likely to make them less frustrating and time-consuming. Any changes in this area won't be in this upcoming update, but it's great to hear nonetheless. I'm sure it won't lead to people flexing (or complaining, even) that they completed the harder version.

However, these bonuses come with a catch, albeit a very obvious and much-needed one: Battlefield Studios is "developing adjustments that are intended to diminish the number of XP farms taking up server space while further emphasizing playing with friends on both custom and verified experiences."

"Over the past week, many of you noticed that we reached maximum capacity on community servers. After reviewing the data, we found that a large number of these servers were created primarily to earn XP, inflate player stats, and earn special accolades through defeating bots. We completely understand the motivation behind this, like faster progression and a way to test setups without pressure, but it’s led to some unintended side effects."

To close out this progression-focused blog post, the team notes that they're also listening to feedback on other aspects, most notably weapon bloom and visibility. It could very well be that the attachments you're grinding for won't be so meta once bullet deviation is addressed.