The ironclad news just got posted by Bungie. The Crusader Lord Saladin with his Iron Banner shenanigans are packing their bags for departure; with the talisman hanging over us, we are told that the event is set to end tomorrow with the weekly reset. The tweet was popped in and off asking players to go complete their event rank, grab whichever rewards they wanted, and just breathe in this last few moments before its departure. Pretty standard reminder, right? That reply list, though…it tells another story.
I could almost hear a tsunami of frustration from the community. It’s not even about the event wrapping up; players are mad… about, well, pretty much everything going on with Destiny 2 at the moment. One player named Necrofear dropped the classic: “Guess we have to pay another 50 bucks for him to stay huh?” Such a sentiment of perpetual monetization carries through so many comments.
The bigger grudge is with the loot, though. The new crossbow, to be exact. And the drop rates must be crazy low. “NobL” claims, after over a hundred-plus games of Iron Banner ceremonies, “have yet to witness one single drop of it.” A funeral shot for Bungie: “My birthday’s on the 26th. I’m begging Bungie to up drop rates for at least one day.” Big sad. Álvaro Junior supposedly says, “Just want one crossbow. Second event played and 0 drop.” So that’s one complaint for everyone.
But it isn’t just the crossbow. The entire reward system for this Iron Banner seems busted. BiasedVol7 pretty much nails it, saying he got a couple of tier 1 rewards but couldn’t help feeling the event just didn’t reward enough. Then Hernan Rodriguez came in with even more dramatic tales: after more than 150 runs, they finally got a crossbow… but they think it’s probably a bug because it shouldn’t have dropped. Can you imagine? After-so-much, that feeling of what few rewards you got was a mistake. That is heavy.
Then there’s the duration. Why is Iron Banner a week? It goes away for a few months and then comes back for a week. That was the main point made by Guacamole in a swift comment. Serj._ did not mince his words asking, “why are we being so stingy with events just keep it going for longer?” Totally fair. If the company really has its player’s retention in mind, at least they should strive to extend this already wildly popular event.
The complaints go much further than just the Iron Banner. Those reply sections turned into some kind of state-of-the-union address for PlayStation and Xbox players’ woes. Storm_Spire called the one-week event with no heads-up about a potential second week “very poor.” Todd Dionne just repeated “Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters that’s your game.” Balancing is another huge issue. Tuna Juice asked why every game feels like “Olympic qualifiers” and begged for a fix before the next event.
Some players are just done with it. Anticomprimizer stated they’ve “departed … to Arc Raiders” and will only consider returning “when the Portal is buried.” Another, named Glo, simply declared the “games dead 🥀”. And potato_O1O said Bungie is “burning the kitchen down hard.” The criticism is fierce.
The big chunk of the conversation centers not so much around the latest DLC but ‘Edge of Fate’ or ‘Final Shape.’ J.Ramirez called it trash and wondered what happened to the golden age of Destiny where story, great music, weapons, and action were a thing?” Then came the overarching complaints. Alienietzsche went on about the new systems being “scummy,” “convoluted,” and “tedious,” reasoning they’re clearly meant to lead players down the side of spending money.
Yeah, I forgot. I was talking about the Iron Banner leaving. You got till the reset if you’re still grinding for that perfect roll or that elusive crossbow. But judging from all those replies, it seems like majority of them have already checked out. The whole sentiment was so negative. Not just about an event ending; it’s about a buildup of frustrations tackling loot, balance, event scheduling, and the overall direction of the game. Bungie’s reminder tweet seemed to become a lightning rod for all of it. Lord Saladin might be departing, but it seems like a chunk of the player base might be right behind him if things don’t straighten around. It’s a pretty stark look at how the community is feeling at the moment. Not so great, to be honest.
