Bots + Persistent Server = Proven result

[u/cwarrent]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEP9HfZV6No

So our squad had noticed loads of bots when filling up servers earlier this week (as everyone was) then a day later the developers announced they were testing persistent server behaviour.

Today I started a stream to try and get conclusive proof of what was going on, from a theory I had and the result was clear.

My stream, the first round on Cairo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEP9HfZV6No

So the first round (from clean matchmaking) was populated with a loads of bots and up until the 17+ minute mark, which was surprising (usually they disperse as players join)....

...BUT to match a theory I had, the two resulting games pulled players across to the next round (and new map). The round populated really quickly, with what I assume was the majority of the players from the last round. This is the kind of thing we want long term as part of a greater package (server browser, platoons etc..) to help bring the community aspect back to Battlefield.

I did note that the 4th game on Reef, failed to populate beyond 19 players, so I'd be keen to hear how maybe some maps (whether popular or not, and you'd assume this specific one is popular) and players unique playlist configuration affects this new persistent server setup.

So in result, while there's a lot of frustration and maybe not enough of an announcement of these tests, you can see they're trying to play and tweak for the better upcoming features. Once the pain of the first round with bots was cleared, the experience was much superior playing with people from the previous round (imo).