Beyond Light has come and gone, and so has the first Iron Banner event since it launched – which will be wrapping up in just a few hours as I write this.
Despite feeling lukewarm on other seasonal events, I've always enjoyed Iron Banner – but this time around it felt as though the formula was beginning to wear thin.
Destiny 2's Iron Banner Was Fun, But Needs Changes
There was a lot to like about the event, I should be clear.
The bounties weren't too taxing, even though I was a lower Power level than many of my opponents, and the main questline from Lord Saladin was fairly simple.
Bungie also deserves a big commendation for making many of the objectives carry across from one step to the next. By the time I got to the final step which included a task to capture 40 zones, that was one box I was very glad to see ticked.
Having Iron Banner make Guardians more powerful than one another through increased Power levels has long been the reason to login, and that's something that will appeal to some more than others (personally, it was nice to see my level increase from the start of the event to the end.
Still, it does cast a pretty unflattering light on Stasis abilities in PvP.
I would wager that of the people I was playing against, eight or nine out of ten were using Stasis subclasses.
When many of them have increased damage and armour thanks to Power levels, I spent my first few hours of the event being frozen, one-shot, and respawning to do it all over again.
At least in standard PvP, you can dodge a Sunbreaker's grenade, for example, but when Stasis Grenades freeze you to the spot and leave you holding a button to release yourself, it's simply not fun.
For a game based around momentum, it still feels like PvP is broken when Stasis is involved. One part of the Iron Banner request requires Super Kills, but whenever I popped my Super, I was frozen and killed.
Of course, I could have just switched to a Stasis subclass, but I don't find it as fun to play.
The other key issue is one of loot. The reason I don't mind grinding PvP content when it comes to Iron Banner week is that I personally love the Iron Banner armour sets.
In fact, up until Beyond Light rendered it useless through sunsetting, it was all I used.
That then makes it doubly as painful to grind through and earn the EXACT same armour again but with higher stats. Surely there must be a way to infuse armour of the same type if it's still in the game?
Arguably the most irritating aspect of this is that after dozens of matches, completing four Iron Banner Bounties, and completing the questline, I still don't have the Titan class item. I got about four helmets, dozens of chest pieces, a few gauntlets and a couple of legs, but the class item eluded me.
Sure, it's RNG, and it's in Destiny's DNA, but when I've put in the time to earn an armour set that I already have, shouldn't there be some kind of duplicate protection?
Still, I've got a few hours to grab that last piece, but it's a sobering reminder that Bungie can't just drop the mode with scant rewards every few weeks and expect longtime players to jump straight back in.
In truth, I've had my fill of Iron Banner for a fair while now.