Destiny – The Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris Return with Some Big Changes

Destiny has hit Year Two with extreme force, with Guardians taking on the forces of Oryx with gusto. Of course, there’s still in-fighting to be had with the Crucible though, and Bungie is prepared to keep that interesting well into this new phase of Destiny.

The Iron Banner is returning, bringing with it a few changes that were necessary for The Taken King’s alterations, as well as fixing some problems the mode has had in the past. In case you aren’t aware, The Iron Banner is Destiny’s way of making all that playtime worthwhile in the PvP multiplayer. Normally, all of your levels get evened out for a Crucible match, but with The Iron Banner, you get to keep that power, at least somewhat.

When The Iron Banner returns to Destiny on October 13th it will have an all new damage curve, which takes into account the many changes that have been applied since the mode was last available. On top of this come a number of other changes.

These are: “The tempered buff is now automatically applied and continues to grow in effectiveness each day of the event. The alt catch-up buff and Iron Medallion mechanics are unchanged. Potential match completion rewards now include both weapons and armor, matching the same items available from Lord Saladin during each event. Drop rates have been increased and are intended to be the primary source of rewards from Iron Banner. If you don’t get what you’re hoping for, you have the option to visit Lord Saladin instead. Gear purchased from Lord Saladin now requires Legendary Marks instead of Glimmer. New emblems have been added to his inventory. All new bounties including 9 Daily bounties (3 per day) and 3 new Weekly bounties which reward Legendary Marks. Recommended minimum Light for Iron Banner: 230. Only Level 40 Guardians can lead a Fireteam.”

Trials of Osiris will also be making a return appearance on October 16th for Destiny Year Two. It’s changes include:

• Trials gear will now drop exclusively as end-of-match rewards for winning teams. – The more you win, the better those drops will be! There’s no need to return to Brother Vance, all rewards come directly to you.
• Passage Coins still drop for the losing team. Trials is still about winning, but Coins can help make that easier.
• Trials Passages now have a Details page containing your active buffs. You won’t be able to add buffs once you’ve started your Trial, so make sure you buy them first!
• Players that go undefeated on their Passage will continue to be invited to The Lighthouse.
• Players may continue to play in the Trials past 9 wins (but they won’t get any better gear).
• Brother Vance now has Trials Bounties available each weekend to provide players with a way to get sweet Trials gear, even if they’re not reaching the Lighthouse.
• Regular Crucible Bounties are also still valid in Trials.
• We will attempt to match up teams with similar win counts.
• If you have 1 win, we will try to match you with another team with only 1 win.
• If you have 8 wins… yup.
• If we can’t find a high-quality match, we will loosen the win requirements first (in other words, we will not prioritize “wins” over low-latency matches).
• Overtime timer in Elimination will now show 0:00 instead of stopping at 0:01 when time expires.
• Teammate and enemy Revives now have distinct audio cues.
• Recommended minimum Light for Trials of Osiris: 290.
• Only Guardians with at least 251 Light can lead a Fireteam.