It's the last month of Season of the Chosen inside Destiny 2 and players are eager to finish their last set of achievements before the seasonal refresh. This week, Iron Banner returned to the Crucible, giving players one last chance to earn this season's rewards, or simply level up via high item level loot drops. Even though Iron Banner hasn't ever been everyone's cup of tea, some players have reported skewed matchmaking during this week's event. Bungie community manager dmg04 clarifies any concerns on Twitter.
Iron Banner is Destiny 2's monthly PvP event that has its own loot pool, bounties, triumphs and playlist. Lord Saladin acts as the event handler, situated in front of his signature gong above Lord Shaxx. This playlist is one of the few power-enabled PvP modes, the other being Trials of Osiris. Thus, the lobbies can get quite competitive as only dedicated or endgame players engage with the mode.
While some players have been voicing their negative experiences from recent Iron Banner matches, commenting on the lopsided matmaking, dmg04 has stated that no unannounced adjustments were made to matchmaking on Bungie's side. In fact, the last change was all the way back in June 2020 when Bungie disabled Skill Based Matchmaking from Iron Banner and most other playlists. Thus, players currently should be receiving a mixed bag of opponents and teammates. The only playlists that match players based on skill level are Elimination, Survival, and Survival: Freelance.
However, last time around in Iron Banner, Bungie had tested a new matchmaking system. This was akin to a snake draft, but it never got fully implemented. The team is happy with the data generated from the test and wants to run it again multiple times next season, once tweaks and fixes have been made. No word on when the final version of this matchmaking model will launch, but it should offer balanced matchups.
For those still sticking around, this will be the last chance to complete the Iron Banner seasonal quest and the 4 pinnacle gear bounties. The seasonal quest will drip feed Iron Banner guns and armor at each step and completing them all with award this season's shader. There are also a couple of Seasonal Challenges associated with Iron Banner that offer Bright Dust and XP to rank up the Season Pass. Players should focus on getting elemental final blows and use Stasis as often as possible to complete these objectives efficiently. It could also be worth trying both normal Iron Banner and Iron Banner: Freelance to see if matches feel more fair.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.