Battlefield 6 Doesn't Need a Server Browser
For official matchmaking, that is.
Community complaints
It’s well known by this point that a small vocal minority of the Battlefield 6 player base, especially on platforms like Reddit, have made it a mission to pretend like a server browser is a fundamental necessity not just for the players’ enjoyment, but also for the health of the game.
I disagree, and a vast majority of the arguments in favour of a server browser I’ve seen tend to be easily disputed, and their asks actually being covered by the currently offered matchmaking systems.
”I want to join my friends!”
This is already covered through the current globalized cross-platform friend list. This also means not having to deal with proprietary (EA vs Steam, etc) friend lists, which usually make it annoying to join friends playing on different launchers and platforms.
This is fundamentally better than checking a server’s name, passing it on to your friends, and having them write it down in a search filter.
”I want to play with more than 3 friends!”
Once again, not actually something you need a server browser to solve. And in some cases, isn’t actually something you want to solve when it negatively impacts the quality of official matchmaking.
Limiting premade size is a balancing decision in order to avoid game quality manipulation in official matchmaking, which affects the experience for all unaffiliated players in the server. Note that this phenomenon is a common issue abused by chinese clans in many games with server browsers.
But, if we decide this is a feature that needs enabling, this can easily be done by expanding party sizes up to a limit, whether 8 or dynamic depending on gamemode team sizes. We can then divide parties into multiple, interjoinable squads. Alongside this, you can re-implement the in-game squad join/leave/lock system from BF2042, which is particularily useful not only for squad member curation, but also for organizing your buddies after late joins mid-game. Absolutely none of this requires a server browser, nor would it even be an equal solution.
On the other hand, if you want to play in larger organized premade lobbies of 8, 12, 16+ players, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing exactly that by either joining or creating a Portal custom server. From verified experiences with vanilla and modified rulesets with zero XP reward penalties, to completely custom content that’ll blow your fucking mind.
”I want to choose what maps or mode I play”
This argument comes from people who either didn’t actually play the Battlefield 6 Beta, which isn’t uncommon when it comes to Reddit hiveminds, or they simply didn’t pay attention.
You’re already able to do choose what you’ll play on official servers by using the custom playlist options, allowing you to select preferred maps and modes at your leisure.
As for persistent official servers with map rotation (which people claim they want) inherently prevents this, as you cannot possibly respect 64+ people’s preferences when preparing the next map/mode cycle at the end of a game, even with a post-game voting system. Kicking them out, re-running matchmaking according to each players’ preferences and spinning up new servers inherently supports your ability to choose what you play.
”I want to join low ping servers!”
This is a weird argument, considering matchmaking already prioritizes low ping, which also deters players who would join on high ping to abuse high latency which a ping cap can’t reliably cover on its own without being overly restrictive.
”I want persistent servers!”
Slightly covered this earlier, however; persistent official servers means players lose control over their preferred map/mode picks after finishing a single match.
The typical semi-solution for this has been to prompt a map/mode vote at the end of matches, which still leads to a large amount of players being forced into content they do not enjoy.
The usual counterargument I hear at that point is that they should create persistent official servers which cycle single maps or mode, which is most definitely not a realistic solution either once you realize this would require running multiple servers for every single map and mode combination, a large portion unused, without mentioning the constant up and downscaling demand cat & mouse game depending on map or mode popularity.
Persistent servers also have a higher impact on infrastructure than spinning up/down instances as needed, as well as ease of garbage collection and resource management.
Official servers do not necessitate persistency in terms of communities, this isn’t Rust, you don’t have a personal base on “US EAST 2 OFFICIAL SURVIVAL WIPES MONTHLY”.
You’re better off matchmaking players on their preferences, ping etc and spinning up servers at request time, then spinning down on game end, letting each player requeue within the boundaries of their chosen matchmaking preferences.
”I want a sense of community!”
Official matchmaking servers belong to a broader sense of the Battlefield community. Portal/custom servers are the option for singular, persistent communities which have actual identities both in and outside the game, unlike a generic matchmaking server label.
Why a server browser for Portal but not official servers?
Actually pretty simple.
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Official servers do not need discoverability, while community servers need it to grow and survive, as well as signal-boost custom content.
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Community servers necessitate a browser because the variety of their content is too volatile to classify them into simple map & mode playlists, this is not an issue in the case of official servers.
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Matchmaking prioritizes putting you in fresh matches, browsers do not.
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Matchmaking balances over multiple factors to increase game quality and player retention.
Conclusion
The push for server browsers mostly stems from nostalgia, not necessity. Modern matchmaking addresses every legitimate concern while maintaining game balance and fresh experiences. Whether or not EA/Dice get matchmaking right is an entirely different matter, but virtually every complaint or request regarding these server browser demands can and are already covered by current matchmaking systems. A browser would make the overall official server experience worse.
For those who want the server browser experience, Portal exists as the perfect solution without compromising official matchmaking for everyone else. From crazy custom content to verified servers with full XP rewards and vanilla rulesets identical to official.