For its two year anniversary event, Apex Legends is celebrating with the usual special rewards and cosmetics, challenges and premium bundles. Perhaps the best addition to the event is Lock and Load, a limited-time-event mode that replaces the usual casual playlist. But should the mode really be an LTE, or should EA consider making Lock and Load the standard mode for Apex Legends casual games?

Instead of dropping into the King's Canyon, World's Edge or Olympus with nothing, hoping to find some scraps of gear before colliding with an enemy squad, Lock and Load gives each player a common-modded Mozambique, a common shield and backpack, armor and a helmet, some ammo, and some cells and syringes.

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This feels like a great change for the game, providing far more flexibility when it comes to where to drop and what players will be able to achieve when they actually land there. No longer does success rely entirely on the mercy of RNG, like hoping to find a Spitfire while an enemy player finds only sniper scopes. Instead, allows skill to come into play, as each player can fight and sustain themselves from the word go.

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Even when ignoring the question of skill, Lock and Load simply just feels more fun. Instead of scrambling around desperately for any weapon, players can adapt to whatever situation they find themselves in after dropping. Combat starts quicker, it's more hectic, and it goes on for longer, as people can restore health and shields before getting back into the fray.

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It also helps with one of the main problems with casual lobbies in battle royales: disorganized teamplay. Often, when dropping in with a squad of random people, it's easy to get split up. Running into another squad (or even a lone enemy) can be a death sentence when this happens -- or at least it is when players have no gear. But with Lock and Load, this problem is mostly resolved.

Players are no longer so reliant on their two squadmates actually coming to help. Plus, now that everyone drops with a weapons, those squadmates are also more likely to help rather than running in the opposite direction to loot. The mode also increases the quality of gear on the map, allowing those squads who successfully fight their way through the early game to gear up for the last few tense engagements. This means that one squad who was lucky with their loot, or just spent the whole game scouring the map for purples, doesn't simply destroy the other.

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Apex Legends Champion Edition

EA has already extended the anniversary event once, to March 2, but there doesn't seem to any reason why it can't make Lock and Load the standard mode for casual play. While ranked mode would still require teamplay and insight into where to drop for the best chance of success, casual mode would further embrace its role as a fast, fun and more individual-focussed mode for players looking to just drop in and fight it out in some quick games.

Since its release, Apex Legends has brought big changes to the battle royale genre, with respawns and its innovative ping system that games from Call of Duty to Risk of Rain 2 have now implemented. Perhaps Lock and Load can be its latest genre-changing shift. It's a refreshing and positive change to the casual mode, allowing players to rely on themselves and balancing the games fights while still allowing improved gear and loot to play a role in the final few engagements.

With the genre already being so heavily saturated, each battle royale is going to have to do something to maintain its player-base. Apex Legends turning its Lock and Load takeover into the standard mode for casual games only seems like a positive step.

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