Destiny's recurring Crucible event, The Iron Banner, is back today and with it comes all-new gear that should help your Guardian reach level 31. Aside from that, not much has changed between the last Iron Banner event and this one.
Like before, only Guardians level 20 or higher can lead a Fireteam into the special Crucible playlist; players lower than 20 must be accompanied by a level 20 or higher.
Why the restriction? Because level advantages are enabled. Once again, the level disparity between players will make a difference in damage dealt and damage received. Your defense rating will affect how much damage you take, while your attack rating affects how much damage you inflict. Typically, the higher the number, or the greater the difference between players, the bigger the advantage or disadvantage. That being said, lower-level players wielding fully-upgraded weapons can still pose a threat to higher-level players.
Also returning are Medallions of Iron, tokens rewarded at the end of a loss that can be redeemed for a portion of your lost Iron Banner reptuation. As before, Iron Banner rep is only rewarded for wins, but to discourage players from leaving a match they are rewarded with these tokens so that they can still increase their rank and event standing.
The only major differences this time around come of rewards from Lord Saladin who, thanks to the increased level cap from The Dark Below expansion, now offers exclusive gear that can get you to level 31.
Rank progression and reputation has been reset, which means you'll once again have to work through a total of five ranks to earn the emblems, class items, armor, and weapons. Each armor piece has a +33 Light cap which should get you to level 31 if you collect them all. To help you earn more reputation, you can purchase the Tempering boost which should increase the speed at which you gain Event Standing.
The Iron Banner began earlier today (December 16, 2014) and will run until December 22, 2014
[Bungie]
