We don’t all have the same experience. I had a pretty enjoyable time in IB this season, probably the most enjoyable in recent memory. I think the openness of the sandbox right now contributed to this. There’s a lot of really viable and fun weapons in different archetypes to keep the gameplay feeling fresh, unlike the 120/Aggressive Shotgun meta for example. Iron Banner is not supposed to be like regular Crucible - here’s a quote from one of the original grimoire cards in D1 - “Lord Saladin, once Shaxx's mentor, runs the Iron Banner tournaments to strip Crucible weaklings of their illusions and prepare them for a battle with no concept of fair play.” I think this has influenced the design decision, particularly around the lockout mechanic. This isn’t Control - this is more like crush or be crushed. That’s not to everyone’s taste I imagine, but the concept is around a more extreme version of the existing crucible format. I think the current iteration of IB is a lot more forgiving in terms of reward acquisition than the original D1 version where you literally had to win or you got nothing at all, but it’s not without its own frustrations and issues, but on the whole I don’t feel it’s as bad overall as some make out.