Here’s how Destiny’s intentionally unbalanced multiplayer event is set to improve

By Adam Rosenberg November 14, 2014

strong survive destinys iron banner returning december 16 destiny — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Destiny‘s Iron Banner multiplayer event, which sends players into the competitive Crucible mode with all of their level-based advantages intact, is set to return, perhaps as soon as “the end of next week” (ending November 21), according to Bungie.

The first crack at Iron Banner wasn’t exactly a success. The limited-time event exists to offer players an opportunity to jump into Destiny‘s competitive multiplayer mode and enjoy an advantage based on all of the hours spent building up a high-level character. Under normal circumstances, Crucible automatically balances stats out. The unique properties of weapons and armor can make a difference, but there’s no damage/damage resistance advantage for toting around high-end gear.

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Iron Banner changes all of that, but the 1.0 take on the event failed to please fans. The simple explanation for what went wrong: Low-level players were limited by the power/defense ratings of their gear in Iron Banner 1.0, but high-level players only got so much of an edge before a limiter kicked in. The idea was to make it so that even a level 5 player could attack a level 20 or higher and have a chance of winning.

Related: Get an edge in Destiny‘s Crucible with our handy guide

All of that changes in Iron Banner 2.0. Now, only players at level 20 and above can lead a fireteam into Crucible. Lower level players can join their high-level friends, but combat encounters between any characters that are more than three levels apart stack the odds heavily against the lower-level player (in Iron Banner 1.0, it was a seven-level differential to remain competitive).

Bungie states that armor/defense rating matters much more in Iron Banner 2.0, to the point that in a low-level vs. high-level encounter, the former is facing the Crucible equivalent of a boss. By the same token, weapon ratings also matter more, so even a level 20 equipped with a fully upgraded super-weapon, such as the Vision of Confluence or Vex Mythoclast, can be a major threat to a level 30.

All reputation from the previous Iron Banner carries over to 2.0, but the rankings are going to reset after this next event. There are now five ranks to earn reputation for in Iron Banner 2.0, and players can boost their rep gains by activating a Tempered buff (it’s not clear how that is earned).

As an encouragement that players not ragequit a losing match, Bungie also notes that while reputation gains only go to the winning team, losers earn a token that can be spent after a future win (though it’s not clear what these tokens get you).

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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Bungie plots Destiny 2: The Final Shape overhaul in wake of mass layoffs

Guardians stand together in Destiny 2: The Final Shape key art.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has broken its silence after laying off around 100 staff members earlier this week. The studio posted a blog update that acknowledged the move and teased a major change in plans for Destiny 2's next big DLC, The Final Shape.

On Monday, October 30, Bungie laid off a sizable chunk of its staff in departments including community, QA, audio, and more. According to a report from IGN, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons cited Destiny 2's declining performance in 2023 as a cause. A report from Bloomberg noted that Bungie's upcoming projects were internally delayed as part of the move, with The Final Shape quietly moving to June 2024.

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Destiny 2 studio Bungie hit by layoffs, internal game delays

A runner runs in Marathon.

Amid a wave of layoffs at Destiny developer and Sony subsidiary Bungie this week, Destiny 2: The Final Shape and Marathon have both reportedly been delayed.
On Monday morning, tweets from developers revealed that Bungie, which was acquired by Sony in January 2022, was suffering layoffs. This was followed up by a report from Bloomberg that went into more detail about the layoffs and their impact on Bungie's future games. Sony and Bungie have not officially commented on the delays yet, although the Bloomberg article mentions that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons will hold a team meeting later today to discuss the layoffs further. This all follows contractor layoffs at Sony studio Naughty Dog earlier this month, which happened as that studio struggles to develop and release a The Last of Us multiplayer game.

Bloomberg suggests that these layoffs, like others at Sony this year, are tied to internal game delays. While Destiny 2: The Final Shape is publicly slated to come out in February 2024, Bungie reportedly told staff that it's now going to come out in June 2024. Meanwhile, we learned that Bungie's revival of Marathon was apparently targeting a 2024 launch -- although no release window was given officially -- but will now come out sometime in 2025. These delays make the PlayStation 5's 2024 game lineup look pretty sparse right now outside of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and it suggests that Destiny 2's next season will be one of its longest.
As of now, Sony and Bungie have not publicly commented on the layoffs or delays, but we will update this post when they do say more about it.

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Destiny 2: Lightfall fails to deliver its Avengers: Infinity War moment

A titan wielding a grenade launcher in Destiny 2..

The comparison between Destiny 2: Lightfall and Avengers: Infinity War is immediate from the opening moments of Bungie's latest expansion. There is no more exposition to get through; the Witness, a mythical villain that represents the root of the Darkness that Guardians have fought against for close to a decade, is here, and the Traveler who has given our heroes the Light and their god-like abilities is under direct threat. The stakes couldn't be higher, but Lightfall doesn't live up to that moment.

I'm not drawing connections here that shouldn't be made -- the bombastic opening moments of Lightfall call back Infinity War's unrelenting momentum in its first act. The Traveler is under siege in Lightfall and Guardians are dismantled by a flick of the Witness' wrist, echoing the immediate slaughter brought by the hands of Thanos moments before he arrived on Earth. That feeling is the same; our antagonist is here, and there's nowhere else to run. In the final moments of the campaign, a member of my fireteam even exclaimed, "hey, that's a line from Infinity War."