Here are the actual damn bounties. (Destiny)

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Tuesday, February 02, 2016, 01:40 (3454 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

If Bungie was that set on making IB a "teams only" activity, they wouldn't let you join solo (like they do with Trials). Iron banner is a team game mode that allows solo players to be matched up together. Of course going in as a full team is ideal, but Bungie made the decision to allow solo players to join.

There's a difference between making an activity explicitly "teams only" (like the Raid and Trials) and making design decisions within those modes to account or compensate for solo players. I would not consider it a design flaw for IB to allow solo players without catering to them in any way, or compensating for presumed deficiencies while playing in that mode.

Further, it is entirely likely that Bungie might want to make such a restriction, except that vocal portions of the playerbase consistently decry them and petition for their removal, including the addition of matchmaking to certain activities that initially lacked them. This provided an improved experience for solo players who can now do strikes like the weekly and nightfalls without going solo, but arguably degrades the experience for groups of two that would prefer not to deal with randoms, for instance.

As far as progression goes, they give us 2 paths to rank up: winning games and completing bounties. Winning games requires teamwork more often than not. People playing with their friends stand a much better chance of winning regularly. I have absolutely no problem with that.

But Bungie doesn't want solo players to be screwed, so they added bounties that were largely skill based and can be completed through personal performance. Even if my team doesn't win, I can complete a few bounties per day and make some progress.

I mentioned it earlier but I think you are presuming facts not in evidence. You are presuming that all bounties were added for this purpose, but if that were true then your complaint would not exist. SOME bounties do not require winning. SOME do, and those that do have been in the game, in some form, since it was launched. Which bounties are active, whether in PVP or PVE, is random.

The fact that some bounties require winning but some don't, and that the selections are made randomly, means that Bungie has made no explicit attempt to guarantee a solo crucible/IB player the opportunity to progress each and every day without winning. Some days it will be possible. Some days it will not be possible, and there is no indication that there is any attempt being made to control this. Doing so would probably be trivial, and who knows-- maybe they'll actually do it and you'll be happy!

You're conflating a design choice by Bungie that has negatively affected you in a way that seems to you unfair because of a baseless assumption of Bungie's intent with a design flaw. They are not the same.

[snip]

Players go in to Iron Banner knowing that playing with friends is ideal, but you can still make progress solo. To have the game suddenly change the rules on you when you're 1 win away from your goal is not a failure of the player's making. It doesn't become one of those "remember the time I almost pulled it off!" stories.

You keep mentioning this "change the rules" stuff.

Here are the IB bounties from the reddit reset thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3t5als/the_full_iron_banner_guide_to_ranking_up_fast_now/

DAILY Bounties - 125 REP Each - 3 out of 9 will be available each day
- Iron Domination - Win an Iron Banner match with a score of at least 2500
- Iron Hued - Win an Iron Banner match with any Iron Banner emblem or shader equipped
- Iron Journeyman - Complete an Iron Banner match while finishing in the top 3 on your team
- Iron Workhouse - Defeat 20 opposing Guardians in the Iron Banner
- Iron Precision - Defeat 10 Guardians with precision headshots
- Iron Light - Defeat 15 opposing Guardians using any ability (melee, grenade, super)
- Heavy Iron - Defeat 3 opposing Guardians with a Heavy Weapon
- Familiar Iron - Get 13 Primary Kills
- Polishing Iron - Reach Iron Banner Rank 2

So out of nine bounties, only TWO require winning a match, and they only require one win. The worst possible configuration you could get would be those two out of three, and you want them both apparently removed from the table because some player like you might, at some time, be on the last day of an event and need to rank up to get a weapon and might also be under time pressure and not be able to play later and have no teammates online and damn these randoms suck and nobody will help me win... ?

Just for comparison, here's an IGN article about IB bounties from 15 months ago:

Anvil of Light - Defeat 50 Guardians while competing in the Iron Banner, with the Iron Banner Class, Emblem and Shader items equipped.
Exacting Measures - Earn 15 Headshot Sprees while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Focused Aggression - Defeat 50 Guardians with Auto Rifle headshots while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Hard Forged - Earn 10000 XP while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Heavy Metal - Earn 15 Machine Gun Sprees while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Iron Embrace - Defeat 20 Guardians with a close quarters melee attack while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Iron Wrath - Defeat 10 Guardians without dying while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.
Of Iron Made - Win 3 Iron Banner matches with the Iron Banner Class, Emblem and Shader items equipped.
Rise Above - Complete an Iron Banner match with the highest score.
The Chaos and The Calm - Defeat 30 Guardians with machine gun headshots while competing in the Iron Banner tournament.

That list contains one of nine bounties that requires 3 wins, instead of two bounties that require one win each.

So your complaint about things suddenly changing is essentially one bounty out of nine.

Your complaint is a shrill whine wearing the bloody skin of an armchair designer.

IB allows for solo play. IB bounty design does NOT provide for any particular amount of guaranteed, daily, non-win advancement-- at least, not more than one or two bounties worth, since there's apparently not been more than two bounties that require wins, so you ARE always guaranteed at least one, possibly two or three, such bounties on any given day.

So again-- you got an unlucky combination of factors. Bungie's failure to anticipate and compensate for that particular outlying combination of factors is in no reasonable way a design flaw. IB bounties that require wins are not new. They are there for a reason, and their existence refutes your assumption that it is Bungie's intention to allow for guaranteed non-winning progression for solo IB players each and every day.