We’ve all been playing Iron Banner for about a week now in Destiny 2, and while I’m thrilled to be playing something other than Rift, boy is the reputation system a slog. First, you have to get to the maximum reputation multiplier by completing your weekly challenges — a total of 18 matches. Once you’ve done that, you have an 11x multiplier to your reputation gains. That sounds nice, except that each win at this point will net you around 300 reputation, a loss 230. That means that even after your 18 matches, you’re likely not even halfway through to a reset. Oh, and that’s assuming that you have a full set of Iron Banner gear and/or ornaments, plus an emblem, to max out your multiplayer.
This wouldn’t be a problem if Iron Banner were around more than two weeks in a season in Destiny 2. If it were every weekend, like Trials, or if it showed up, say, four weeks instead of two, then the crawl to a reset might be reasonable. But Bungie seems to think that players are going to hit the reset and keep going afterwards, putting some cosmetics behind the first Iron Banner reset of the season. I’m closing in on my first reset of the season and the second I need for Iron Lord, and I’m not sure I’ll have the will to keep going after that.
Does Iron Banner really need to be such a crawl? Shouldn’t a mode that’s only around for a couple of weeks have a faster progression system than the playlist activities that are accessible all year round? Sure, you’re at least gaining Crucible reputation with Shaxx while you’re fighting it out in Saladin’s war games, but pushing that number up feels almost as bad as it used to in Gambit. As it is, the fastest way to gain Iron Banner reputation as a solo player is to max out your multiplier then go into the non-Freelance queue and hope to get mercied by a six stack.
So what are some possible solutions? The simplest one would be an across-the-board increase in reputation gain for the Iron Banner. But I could see other possibilities, too. If Iron Banner is supposed to be a test of player abilities, then maybe individual performance should affect reputation in some way. Give players a reputation bonus based on objective score, kills, or whatever. I’ll take anything at this point. As it is, the Iron Banner reputation grind in Destiny 2 is just absurd.
