‘Destiny’ dev details Iron Banner mechanics for April 26 with bigger prize drops, April Update impressions prove a better game

“Destiny” players may be busy exploring what the April Update has brought to the game. As for developer Bungie, it has been busy delivering more content, which will come next week in the form of the Iron Banner.

Announced via the Weekly Update, the Iron Banner will start on April 26, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time and end on May 2, 2:00 a.m. Pacific Time. That’s roughly an entire week for “Destiny” players to enjoy Clash in the Iron Banner, as well as some changes following the update.

“Legendary Engrams are great and all, but if you’re playing Iron Banner, it’s more likely that you want some of that sweet Iron Banner gear. So you should expect to see more Iron Banner gear next week instead of Legendary Engrams,” said Bungie Designer Jeremiah Pieschl in the Weekly Update.

Iron Banner gear will already drop down after every match played, so players no longer have to wait until Rank 2 to get their just rewards. Bungie has recognised that a lot of players participating in Iron Banner have to play at lower ranks, so these earlier games will no longer go unrewarded.

Those who have been experiencing some inconsistent reward percentage, Bungie has also addressed the issue that blocked some of the rewards before Rank 5. For the first Iron Banner following the April Update, this issue will already be resolved.

Community Manager Cozmo has reiterated some of the changes that the Iron Banner will be receiving once it rolls out on April 26. Lord Saladin’s inventory has been updated with items at Ranks 3 to 5. Rank package rewards have seen some adjustments. The Artifact for Rank 3 packages and Ghost in Rank 5 packages have both been increased to 320 Light.

As previously mentioned, Iron Banner Armour and Weapons can now be earned as early as Rank 0 at the end-of-activity. Iron Domination daily bounty will now have lower requirements of finishing a match with a personal score of 1500 instead of 2500.

Given the changes in prizes, Bungie has also teased a few of the items that “Destiny” players can get, including the Warlock Armour seen above.

The “Destiny” April Update is proving to be, by far, the game’s best update yet. For the most part, there’s better loot that can be obtained to alleviate the grind. Predominantly, these changes have dealt with the progression barrier that many “Destiny” players have had to deal with for some time, Eurogamer reported. Easier progression means that even casual players who cannot devote as many hours to upgrade their characters will no longer feel left out of the progress.

Of course, it is not perfect the way it is. Polygon touched on the ever-dangerous mechanic of microtransactions first introduced with the Eververse. While most of the items that were sold were mostly cosmetic and emotes, the introduction of the Sterling Treasure now ups the ante in slight ways.

While the armour that can be obtained is mostly to give a new look to Guardians, there are some legendary armour pieces that can come randomly in these boxes. For freemium players, there are three Sterling Treasure boxes that can be obtained via gameplay alone each week. All they need to do is visit the Postmaster every weekly reset, play one round of the Weekly Crucible playlist and completing a match in the Level 41 of Challenge of Elders.

However, if Bungie increases more loot that can be seen in the Sterling Treasure boxes, which are available at US$2 (approx. AU$2.60) per box, there is the danger of microtransactions paving the way towards pay-to-win scenarios.

Still, so far, “Destiny” is doing much better these days than its alleged close competitor “The Division,” which has been plagued with bugs.