So far this Iron Banner has seemed the same as all the rest. I'll admit I have played a lot less this week, but that's because I got all 3 quests done, in the first week and a half of this season's Iron tournament. The following are my impressions of Iron Banner in D2. Yes, lag is worse in sbmm compared to cbmm. Nothing new there. 6 solo players going up against a 6 stack, can suck if they are all elite, but even in Iron Banner, you will run into a 6 stack with 1 or 2 better players trying to help their 4 lower skilled friends, and can totally be beaten by 6 solos. But again, nothing new to pvp. There are a couple of different reasons as to why, Iron Banner always seems, "worse," than the average 6v6 quick play match, imo. First, since there is a quest, you get more people that don't normally play pvp, just like other times for quests. Except other quests, just need regular, non power level enabled, pvp to complete, so playing with teammates 200 power levels below you isn't such a handicap, as it is in Iron Banner. Second, the reason things get so lopsided so often. Control. Too many people don't play the objective. I see teammates run past easily capable points all the time. So if your team isn't actually capping points, and the other team is, your chances of winning drop off super quick. Not to mention, you gain a little bit of super energy with every cap. So if your team isn't capping and the other team has multiple people, helping cap points together, the other team will get their supers faster. And properly alternated supers, is a sure way to a mercy, imo. Too many people blame too many things when they complain about Iron Banner. It's the lag. It's the unbalanced metas. It's the matchmaking. It's the 6 stacks. It's certain exotics. When really its mostly just an influx of non regular pvp players. Which in turn increases the number of matches you experience teammates, either unaware, or simply unwilling to actually play the objective. Which then leads to more matches ending in a mercy. That and another basic, overall pvp trend I see a lot. Too many people see the other team get a bit of a lead, and then bail. Why? I have no idea. Even a loss is worth tokens. And even if you are losing you can still work on bounties, quests, or pinnacle weapons. And more importantly, just because you get down by a ways, comebacks can totally happen. People get on hot streaks all the time. A good heavy run. Or a perfect timed super can swing the momentum of any match.