An honest explanation: The way levels work in Patrol missions is that you are effectively capped at a maximum of two levels above all enemies. Meaning, provided both examples have equal gear, a level 26 player can be no more effective against level 5 enemies than a level 7 can. From what we see here, I'd say it's safe to assume Iron Banner works the same way. I watched carefully and the other guys could take you out with just a few lucky bullets to any spot on your body, but you needed several headshots to get rid of them. They were more deadly than you were, statistically, but that capped kept it so that your armor and bullets weren't [i]totally[/i] made of paper. It's not that the level differences weren't there, their full effectiveness was just capped. The differences do appear somewhat minimal. This is probably something that they would consider revising with enough (level-headed) support