The first reactions to the new Iron Banner since the release of the Destiny 2 expansion Forsaken indicate: Power level plays a big role, and matchmaking is also a topic in the forums. Many “normal Guardians” feel like cannon fodder.
First Destiny 2 Iron Banner with Power Level advantages: Yesterday, on September 18, the first Iron Banner in Forsaken began. This brought some innovations, including the activation of Power Level advantages.
This means: Guardians who can show a higher Power Level have an advantage over players with a lower Power Level. They deal more damage to weaker Guardians and take less damage themselves.
How significant is the advantage for Guardians with high Power Level?
Even in the weeks leading up to the first Year 2 Iron Banner, Guardians wondered how strong the Power Level advantages would be. After all, all Guardians are allowed to participate in the PvP event, regardless of whether they own Destiny 2 expansions or not, thus independent of certain Power Level limits.
There were questions about whether Guardians without Forsaken would even have a chance in the Iron Banner. Here we reported on this Power Level dilemma.
How significant is the Power Level advantage now? There are no official statements about the current Power Level advantages yet, but many Guardians describe the advantages as significant.
It is said that even with a Power Level difference of 40 points, a significantly lower damage output with significantly increased incoming damage can be observed, making one essentially hopeless.
No chance in the Iron Banner without Forsaken? What players say
On reddit, some users with Power Levels around 525 are also saying that the advantages are too severe. This is directly noticeable in the K/D, which is significantly lower. In 1v1 situations, there is hardly a chance if the opponent has higher Power Levels.
No chance for Guardians without Forsaken: Those entering the Iron Banner at Power Level 400 (the maximum before Forsaken) are likely to be mercilessly defeated by 500+ Guardians according to many users.
Anyone who has invested a lot of time since the launch of Forsaken and has also visited the Last Wish Raid should have it much easier in the Iron Banner.
When will there be concrete numbers? Exact numbers regarding the level advantages are expected to be published by Bungie in the next weekly blog post. This was tweeted by community manager dmg04. We will report on it.
Bungie and its promise: Before the Iron Banner, Bungie assured that Guardians without Forsaken could play in the Iron Banner, but would suffer disadvantages. How significant these disadvantages would be was unknown.
However, the first reactions now indicate that Forsaken is necessary to achieve something in the Iron Banner. Guardians are already advising other Guardians without Forsaken not to enter the Iron Banner at all.
The matchmaking in the Iron Banner
But not only the Power Level advantages are currently being discussed; the matchmaking is also irritating many Guardians.
Randoms against fireteams: Players are currently frequently reporting situations where individual Guardians have to compete against groups of up to six players in the Iron Banner. The full fireteam has the advantage of communication and coordination, which often leads to many players retreating early under the mercy rule.
Many players have long wished for separate matchmaking so that solo players can stay with each other and fireteams can compete against each other. Bungie has not yet commented on these discussions.
This is what sticks: Listening to the players in the forums, it seems that “normal Guardians” without a full team and a high Power Level currently feel like cannon fodder in the Iron Banner of Destiny 2. Without Forsaken, it seems particularly bad.
What do you think of the current Iron Banner?
