Destiny 2’s Iron Banner adding Rift, brand-new PvP map in season 17

Bungie is not afraid to change, remix and overhaul parts of its products. Destiny 2 over the past five years, and one aspect of the game that’s getting a substantial refresh is Iron Banner — the fun, more casual side of Crucible PvP. The 17th season of Destiny 2, Bungie is changing how Iron Banner plays, both in terms of how rewards are doled out and the core game mode it’s built around.

Bungie has decided to disable Iron Banner’s power levels, one of the biggest changes. This is in an effort to level the playing fields. Bungie notes that Power level in Trials of Osiris will not be disabled.

Iron Banner players will also get a new place to play, in the form of a brand-new map called Disjunction — the first brand-new map for Destiny 2 PvP in about two years — set “in the swampy Pyramid area of Savathûn’s Throne World, so expect lots of many-butted horses, transparent brown glass, and art deco designs,” Bungie says.

Season 17 Destiny 2 will see the return of Rift, Destiny’s rugby-with-guns PvP mode, to replace Control in Iron Banner. And Bungie says it plans to switch out the Iron Banner game mode every season, noting, “Sometimes it might be a brand new or returning mode, sometimes it might be an interesting twist on an existing mode.”

Iron Banner will also be getting daily challenges and dropping Iron Banner tokens. There is also a new reward track. To acclimate players both new and old to Iron Banner, Saladin will offer players a new, mandatory quest to explain the PvP mode’s new features.

“You only have to run through it once per account, but with this reset we wanted everyone to get the same introduction, even Iron Banner veterans will need to do this,” Bungie said. “In fact, you’ll need to start this quest to even access the Iron Banner node.”

Season 17 Destiny 2The site will be available May 24, 2010. You can find more information about upcoming changes here Destiny 2’s Iron Banner mode and its new Disjunction map are available in Bungie’s weekly blog.