Locked and Loaded introduced itself as the Town Takeover Event for Apex Legends' Season 8, and since then, it's become a huge hit with fans. Many love the way it subverts the rules of a battle royal. Instead of scrambling for loot upon landing in the arena, players instead spawn with a few low-tier items: a Mozambique, two shield cells, and two syringes. The mode also eliminates all grey loot from the pool, leaving only rare and higher drops for players to find.
It's gotten to the point where some Apex Legends players want Locked and Loaded to be permanent, asking the game's developer Respawn Entertainment to make it happen. As it turns out, Respawn is considering it. When one fan on Reddit asked for the game mode to become the norm of casual play, Apex Legends' lead game designer responded, claiming that Respawn was debating the decision. Although, he prefaced that it was doing it carefully.
DanielZKlein — what the lead designer goes by on Reddit — claimed that he was personally a little worried about the idea of permanently removing grey loot from Apex Legends. Since it's a personal gripe, there's the implication that his team may be worried about other things. Still, Klein does recognize how much fun people are having with the event, seeing no real downsides to keeping it. In other words, Locked and Loaded has grabbed the attention of the dev team, but there's no guarantee it's here to stay.
It seems unlikely that Respawn will change Apex Legends' current formula. If Locked and Loaded leaves, it simply becomes that one great Apex Legends Takeover Event — the game's reception doesn't really change. However, if Locked and Loaded stays and becomes the new norm for Apex Legends' gameplay, Respawn risks alienating the player base that either didn't like it or simply preferred it to be a limited event. Basically, there's safety in familiarity.
All that said, there are certainly ways for Respawn devs to make Locked and Loaded work as the base game — at least according to some fans. A few suggested keeping the grey loot while still allowing players to keep their spawn-in items, all except for a weapon. Playing without a spawned-in Mozambique seems to take away a lot of the charm from Locked and Loaded, but the fact that fans are suggesting it shows just how much they want Apex's base game to evolve in some way.
Apex Legends is on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and will come to Switch on March 9.
Source: Reddit