'Destiny 2' Players Intentionally Throwing Games To Farm Iron Banner

Season 19's Iron Banner has seen a notable uptick in the number of players who have been intentionally throwing games for the sake of grinding reputation points due to the game mode's slow progression.

The Iron Banner is a week-long PvP event that is only available twice per season. Despite the time gate, the vendor reputation that it rewards players after every match is abysmal compared to the normal Crucible Quickplay mode (which is disabled whenever Iron Banner is up).

The slowness of this progression has caused individuals and entire groups of players to hop into a PvP match and just do nothing in hopes of losing the game to a Mercy decision from Lord Saladin. Such a method ironically results in the fastest way to gain a reputation in the Iron Banner, which is supposed to be a contest of strength and skill among Guardians.

Groups of such players can be found on the fireteam finder on Bungie's website. Some solo players may also be seen using macros in Iron Banner so they can go AFK while still earning reputation points.

"Destiny 2's" community members have responded with both jest and disappointment. Apart from the usual barrage of memes, some players voiced concerns regarding the frustrating state of Season 19's Fortress game mode, which mainly involves Void Titans spamming Ward of Dawn on objectives.

Bubble spam has resulted in situations where there is little-to-no counterplay if players aren't using the right weapons or don't have Supers available. The game mode's reliance on holding Capture Zones that generate points in set intervals also means that Fortress matches tend to go on for longer than the usual Control or Clash match.

Resetting reputation ranks is required to acquire the Iron Lord title. This season, resetting twice also rewards players with a unique shader that gives cloth parts of armor a chainmail-style texture, which many players seem to want.

With its painfully-slow grind to Rank 16, frustrating game mode and limited overall availability per season, the Iron Banner forces busy players to make time to play PvP or miss out on rewards completely. Due to this, lose streak farming has understandably become an acceptable alternative.