Destiny 2is made of a plethora of different components, ranging from game modes to mods, from seasonal content to annual expansions, meaning that players who want to delve intoDestiny 2as a new experience have lots of things to tackle. For veterans, this is quite dissimilar in that the longer players have been dedicating their time toDestiny 2, the less there is for them to do when all the novelties of a season or campaign start to wane.
As such, one of the most interesting aspects ofDestiny 2quickly became the so-called “fashion game,” meaning trying to mix and match armor pieces and other cosmetics to create great looks. That’s where the new Iron Banner armor set comes into play. This set, called Iron Forerunner, was released as part of the first Iron Banner of Season of the Lost, and it was frowned upon by the community as a decent aesthetic that didn’t really fit the themes ofDestiny 2. However, with the latest patch for yesterday’s weekly reset,Destiny 2’s Iron Forerunner set started to glowand small emit fiery bursts wherever the Iron Banner icon is present, but players' enthusiasm dwindled a bit when they discovered this isn’t a permanent addition.
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Why Destiny 2 Players Want the Iron Banner Set to Glow Permanently
This small change made manyDestiny 2players drastically change their minds about the look of theIron Forerunner setbecause it’s refreshing to see a great look for Iron Banner armor once again. In fact, for many years now, the community has been very vocal about how and why Bungie should bring back oldDestinyIron Banner sets intoDestiny 2, as those are considered the peak aesthetics of any other Iron Banner set to date. The change made the Iron Forerunner set so incredibly popular because it reminds veterans the look of the Days of Iron set fromDestiny, which came with a base look and ornaments to make it catch on fire—pretty much like the currentDestiny 2set.
Now thatDestiny 2has its own form of a transmog system, called Armor Synthesis, the addition of a glowing Iron Banner set is great and drastically changes the way players can use it outside of Iron Banner weeks. Unfortunately, however, the set is only meant to glow when Lord Saladin is in the Tower and Iron Banner returns to theCrucible, which normally means around a week per month or once every five to six weeks. Iron Banner is also not really cycling back into the Crucible rotation after some point in every season, which means that the Iron Forerunner set will enjoy its new glow up until next Tuesday and then maybe another time before Season of the Lost ends.
With it being such a nostalgic and iconic look, players want the glow to stay even after Lord Saladin leaves the Tower on the next reset.Destiny 2fans talked so much about the new glow thatIron Bannerhas been trending pretty much all day on Twitter, with lots of screenshots shared from players to showcase their incredible new looks—something even Bungie itself encouraged with the promise of posting some images in tomorrow’s TWAB. All of this is good for the game, and it poses the questions as to why Bungie didn’t implement the change earlier in the season or why this was conceived as a weekly thing every once in a long while.
There may be a few reasons why that is the case, and they likely involve the players' initial reaction to the Iron Forerunner set, the load of work that Bungie is going through in preparation forThe Witch Queenin February, and the current limits of the Armor Synthesis system. Still, making the armor permanent would be a great way for Bungie to show it cares about its player base and what it wants, but it can be hard to please everyone.
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How Destiny 2 Could Implement the Iron Banner Set’s Permanent Glow
The fact that players overall didn’t like the appearance of the Iron Forerunner set, which was generally regarded as a cool idea that didn’t fit much withDestiny 2’s aesthetics, may have played a part in the new glow. It is possible that either the glow was planned all along but not implemented until now because of the backlash surrounding the set, or because Bungie wanted to make the set look more appealing to everyone, even if at a later date. Another option is that Bungie simply didn’t have the time or the resources to implement this earlier in the season, and decided to experiment now, consideringNovember has been deemed a void month inDestiny 2due to the next major release coming on December 7.
Another problem may be that the current system in place for Armor Synthesis makes it so introducing new good-looking options mid-season can lead to some players not being able to unlock them as ornaments. In fact, players have a total of 10 Armor Synthesis bounties per season at their disposal, meaning that it’s quite easy to run out of them before the Season ends, leaving theEverversepackages as the only alternative. Thus, making the glow permanent could lead to someDestiny 2players being upset that can’t unlock it now because it wasn’t always like this, but rather added in yesterday’s patch, and they already ran out of bounties.
Luckily, there’s a solution that would make everyone happy, and that’s making the Iron Banner set have the permanent glow and also refresh the Armor Synthesis limit for all players when the30th Anniversary Packdrops. This would allow everyone to have a chance at unlocking the Iron Forerunner set as a universal ornament, while also pleasing the community by making the set glow at all times. Ultimately, there is no reason why Bungie should keep the glow a time-gated thing, but rather it should indeed take the community’s feedback to the designers to have more armor sets like the Iron Forerunner and those fromDestiny.
Destiny 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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