The MMO shooter Destiny is currently facing criticism from fans regarding the Iron Banner tournament. It doesn’t work as announced, the Guardians’ power doesn’t really come into play, and gear doesn’t play the crucial role. These issues have been recognized, and they plan to change the rules for next time.
Iron Banner was marketed incorrectly
It seems to be a “communication problem” that plagues the Iron Banner. In the latest “Weekly Update,” a weekly blog to the community, Bungie addresses the fans of Destiny. The blog’s writer, Community Manager DeeJ, also struggled to prepare for the Iron Banner event, gathering items intensively for two weeks, and fought through a raid until he reached level 26 for the event. Then he was taken out by a level 6 Warlock.
They had specifically advertised that gear actually matters in Iron Banner. “Power matters!” “Your power matters.”
Clearly, Bungie misrepresented the Iron Banner and placed too much emphasis on the power advantage, even though it makes little difference in practice.
80% skill, 20% gear in Destiny’s Iron Banner
In a conversation with Senior Designer Derek Caroll, he makes it clear that armor is only slightly more important in the Iron Banner than in the normal Crucible. Skill still accounts for 80% of success. The last 20% are significantly easier with the right gear.
But anyone who expected to rampage with their top gear will be disappointed. Essentially, better armor only provides a small buffer; you can take a few more shots. The level advantage can only be a maximum of 7 anyway. Whether a level 4 player or a level 23 player faces off against a level 30 player makes no difference.
Perhaps Bungie set the Iron Banner too conservatively this time to allow as many players as possible to participate, ensuring everyone could enjoy the event.
Iron Banner will work differently next time
They also address the issue of players simply leaving matches when they feel disadvantaged in the Weekly Update. As always, they review the data, analyze it, and will come up with a solution to address the problem in the future.
One could expect, Bungie says, that Lord Saladin plays by different rules when he calls for the Iron Banner event in Destiny next time.
This video, in which a level 4 Guardian takes down higher-level players in the Iron Banner with a level 1 automatic rifle, has gone global:
