Not sure the issue. Iron Banner was always supposed to be gear/level based. They even admitted it didn't turn out as expected during an update when it was going. Items got nerfed because they were too strong. 4 body shots from a medium range, high ROF auto weapon (Mythoclast) was too much. And it's still very good in PVP. It's currently at 5 headshots to kill rather than 4. Not that much different. It's being changed for PVE to be stronger there and only there. SUROS Regime was too strong. There was no denying it, especially after everyone started buying it and made it quite obvious. The nerf to it was miniscule as well, it's still a top tier exotic. Holiday/Festival events are a huge draw factor to get people playing and every game that uses them posts much higher login numbers when it's happening. You don't like that? I'm sure there's many sub 1000 player games you could play that are holding on by a thread without events.