Only the strong survive in Destiny’s Iron Banner, returning on December 16

By Will Fulton Published December 8, 2014

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

Destiny is hosting a third Iron Banner event on December 16, according to a new update on Bungie.net. Iron Banner is a limited time competition for the game’s PvP-focused Crucible in which each player’s armor and firepower are dictated by their experience level. Typically, all player stats are auto-balanced in Crucible, to make for fairer, skill-based match-ups

Event standings from previous Iron Banners will be reset, as Bungie promised previously, giving everyone a fresh chance to earn glory on the battlefield. Winners will have the opportunity to earn powerful gear that can bring them up to level 31.

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This is the second Iron Banner since the gameplay was tweaked to make the disparities between player power levels more meaningful. The first Iron Banner in October was criticized for limiting high level players’ power too aggressively, a function put in place to give lower level players a fighting chance.

Bungie responded to the criticism with a reconceived take on Iron Banner that better takes into account differing power levels. To a low-ranked player, a level 30 has the health equivalent of a boss from PvE. What’s more, only players at level 20 and above can lead Crucible fireteams in Iron Banner matches. Lower level players can join, but are at a serious disadvantage against players more than three levels above them.

The new Iron Banner follows closely on the release of Destiny‘s first expansion, The Dark Below, on December 9. It’s not necessary to buy The Dark Below to participate in the Iron Banner battles.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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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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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."

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Seasoned Destiny 2 players know they can count on the elusive merchant Xur to make an appearance with special exotic items every Friday, but what's not so clear is where you'll be able to find him. Below, you'll find a map with a marker that indicates where Xur is, as well as a list of his wares.

Who is Xur?
If you're new to Destiny 2 and need a bit more information about how this works, you should know that Xur is a special vendor who sells exotic weapons and armor. Each week, he comes to the solar system with a slate of goods, including an exotic weapon and one piece of exotic armor for each character class. As of The Witch Queen, he now stocks legendary armor and weapons and sells additional exotic weapons with random rolls every week.
Where to find Xur (December 30 to January 2)
The trouble with Xur is finding him. We always know when Xur will show up -- at the 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET reset each Friday. The question is where Xur will be. Previously in Destiny 2, Xur’s location was marked on the map. He’s now unmarked and harder to find each weekend. Here’s where to go to track down Xur, the Agent of the Nine, as well as everything you need to know about what he’s offering this week.