Earlier this month, in response to fans' disappointement with The Iron Banner event in Destiny, developer Bungie promised major improvements the next time it rolls around. Acting quickly on player feedback, Bungie has already outlined the changes and improvements for the next Iron Banner event.
Power Matters
Addressing the complaint that level and gear difference didn't really matter, the next Iron Banner "will debut a much more dramatic difference between players of wide variation in Level."
"The goal for Level Advantages in PVP had been to create relatively small advantages that would suffice only to tilt the balance between players of equal skill towards the player of greater achievement, expressed in terms of his gear," explained lead designer Tyson Green. "But we now believe we have been too conservative, and that small tilts failed to meet anyone’s expectations."
Although he didn't go into full detail, Green said that one of the changes will require a Fireteam leader to be level 20 to enter the Iron Banner. He also added that while lower level players may enter with a level 20-plus friend, they will find it "very challenging."
Quitting
Bungie is also addressing the problem with players quitting mid-match once they realized their team was going to lose.
"The goal of Iron Banner was to create a PVP playlist where players would push their game and their equipment harder than ever. To do so, the emphasis is on winning. But that meant players who found themselves losing would be inclined to leave," Green acknowledged.
In order to fix this in the next Iron Banner, players will receive a Medallion of Iron on a loss. Upon their next win, each Medallion will convert into a reputation gain "almost equal to a win."
Armor and Weapons
One of my personal complaints involved the Vault of Glass raid being the only way players could attain level 30. I, along with many other players, was disappointed in the lack of gear offered as rewards for the Iron Banner. Basically, it wasn't powerful enough to warrant the grind required.
In the next Iron Banner, new exclusive reward Armor will be bumped to Level 30, but will still only be available in two slots. Also, Iron Banner weapon types will go from two to four, divided between drops on match victory and purchase from Lord Saladin in the Tower.
Bounties
Bounties in the original Iron Banner were designed to "push players to prove themselves in new ways." In reality, they were extremely frustrating and hard to complete.
"In the next Iron Banner, several of these Bounties have been tuned down quite a bit, and overall the value of Bounties has been bumped up," Green said. Also, you will now get the Bounties from Lord Saladin, not the regular bounty board.
Reforging
In the next Iron Banner, Lord Saladin will offer players the option of Reforging any Iron Banner weapon, including those from the last event.
"This will re-roll all of the upgrades, but will also reset any progression," Green explained. The cost for each Reforge is a "small number" of Motes of Light, so plan your Xur purchases accordingly.
Tempered
With just a week to compete in the Iron Banner, Bungie realizes that some players with working schedules didn't have enough time to even consider reaching higher ranks. To address this, Lord Saladin will offer a 12-hour buff called Tempered, which will boost Iron Banner reputation gains. As the week progresses, the boost will be "increasingly potent" to help players starting later in the week catc hup.
Iron Banner Reputation Reset
Good news, the reputation and Rank that you earned in the first Iron Banner event won't be reset. Green admitted that the original plan to reset reputations each event had been poorly communicated which, combined with the long grind, ultimately led to the decision to leave your reputation alone. However, the Iron Banner ranks have been increased to 5 which shouldn't be too big of a deal considering all the things Bungie is doing to lessen the grind.
That being said, future Iron Banner events will change over from Reputation to an Event Standing model where ranks are reset. That won't happen until Bungie "better tunes the effort required to reach higher ranks."
So when is the next Iron Banner event? While most of the ideas seem fleshed out, Green acknowledged that the changes are still undergoing internal testing. It's possible Bungie still could encounter critical issues that force a postponement.
