Earlier this week, Bungie restarted Iron Banner for Destiny. I missed out on the first round of Iron Banner gameplay for Destiny, so I decided to go for the limited time Crucible event for its second session. After all I heard about Iron Banner, I was somewhat surprised with how basic it is. I expected a more challenging and difficult multiplayer session. The gameplay for Iron Banner is virtually identical to regular Crucible matches, and the incentives are not much greater either. Iron Banner could definitely use greater incentives for the playing of the limited time Crucible event.
There are some helpful items in Iron Banner. After ranking up to a certain level for Iron Banner, players might be able to purchase some new Legendary gear and weapons. The Legendary armor that players can buy from Lord Saladin at the Tower has a maximum light level of 30. Other Legendary armor pieces in the game have a maximum light level of about 27 or so. This means players have another avenue to get their Guardian’s maximum level to 30 without constantly playing the Vault of Glass Raid over and over. My Guardian is well into level 29 now. Based on the math, I am not sure whether six more light level points will truly put me into the level 30 range. I could be wrong. Still, Iron Banner comes off as another way to grind away for hours on end. Although playing Iron Banner is not a terrible experience, the game could use some better incentives beyond some new legendary gear.
Lord Saladin provides the option to reforge Iron Banner weapons. The reforging of weapons changes the weapon perks and damage types. Well, instead of just reforging weapons, why not also include the option for armor? Yes, it means certain armor types would have to be upgraded all over again, but there is no reason why armor cannot be reforged. It would change, or possibly fine-tune, the attributes and stats of certain armor, as well as provide another incentive to get players to do more Iron Banner.
So far, the only Iron Banner match type I have seen for this session is Control. Why does Iron Banner have only one match type? I think added match types for Iron Banner would be another positive. From what Iron Banner has shown for its latest session, the scope is quite limited. It would be nice to see more variation and reward incentive from Iron Banner gameplay.
It’s not that one piece can get you to level 30 – you need all four armor pieces at level 30. Previously, that meant RNG and an exotic helmet. Now you only need the chest armor from the raid which is a fairly common drop on Normal. The Iron Banner gloves and boots when maxed will give you 30 light each. I think the more unique benefit and change is the ability to “re-roll” Iron Banner weapons (2 motes each time) to get the bonus perks and even damage type you prefer. It’s still random but you can keep rolling until you have something good.
OK my problem with that is that the raid armor chest piece is not all that common. I’ve played through the Raid several times and I have yet to get the chest piece.
Not to mention, you have to play quite a few Iron Banner games to rank up to level 4 to get the two new armor pieces.