It seems Apex Legends is about to have its first unofficial holiday. A campaign launched yesterday on Reddit to promote Mozambique Only Day, set to take place on April 1.
The announcement post lists the date and the event’s rules, and nothing else. The rules are simple: Players can use no guns other than the Mozambique. There’s no word on whether grenades can be used, but melee attacks are off limits. Legend abilities should be fair game. Door assassinations would probably be allowed, as they are often accidental and can hardly be prevented.
There is a lot to unpack here. First, the ban on melee attacks makes this event even more ridiculous than it already is. Players would have to pass by enemies peacefully while searching for the coveted Mozambiques. Early game looting – which is already notoriously chaotic – would turn into a strange, almost theatrical exercise. Opposing players will run past each other with no more than a glance exchanged, and maybe a friendly grapple. The truce would eventually end, as the first player in the area finds a Mozambique and starts mowing down less fortunate scavengers.
Second, the Mozambique simply doesn’t do enough damage. As Reddit user RDGOAMS has pointed out in the thread, some games might end with “20 squads left in the last ring.” Healing items and armor are abundant in Apex, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the map runs out of shotgun ammo before it runs out of players.
Then there is the simple fact that a lot of players don’t know how to use the Mozambique. This event will force people pretty far out of their comfort zones. The Mozambique’s small clip and low damage make fights last longer and put heavier emphasis on timing and movement. Removing burst damage from the game for a day should be a humbling experience for many.
The meta will be inverted even further than that. Some of the game’s current underperformers – like Caustic and Pathfinder – will get a taste of being first picks, if only for a day. Ultimately, temporarily turning the game’s worst gun into its best should be great for Apex’s health as a competitive game. By April 2 there will be new tricks and strategies added to the game’s regular meta.
The Mozambique has arguably turned into Apex’s mascot as of late. Players love to hate it, and Respawn is not planning on changing it. According to them, the gun’s relative underperformance is essential to the game’s balance. By making all of Apex’s other guns cooler in comparison, the Mozambique is the unsung hero of the game. So it really isn’t a surprise that players are rallying around the idea of celebrating it for a day.
Is it going to happen?
Apex’s community – which is normally very keen on judging the game’s balance – has clearly embraced the idea. At the time of writing this, the post has 32 thousand upvotes. Still, the campaign would need to pick up a lot more steam by the end of the month to actually be successful. The Apex Legends ecosystem is so big that 32 thousand players running around with Mozambiques on the same day might not even be noticeable.
There is also a problem with the event’s premise. It’s essentially a social experiment that relies on everyone participating to honor the rules. However, the landscape of online gaming – and battle royales in particular – is full of opportunistic rule-breakers. The moment a single player decides to take advantage of the situation and grab a better gun, so will everyone else.
To be realistic, the best way to ensure this event happens – and is done fairly – is if Respawn runs with it. They have made a point of engaging with their community and listening to their feedback. Now it might be time to join in on some of the more questionable efforts. It would be great if everyone who logged in on April 1 found King’s Canyon devoid of anything but Mozambiques.
And Respawn has a lot to gain from this becoming an official – perhaps even annual – event. It would make Apex Legends a whole new game for a day. Hundreds of thousands of Twitch viewers turn in to watch Lucas “Mendokusaii” Håkansson and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek gun down team after team with the Wingman every day. Seeing them try to get the job done with a Mozambique for once would be quite the show.
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