The return of Rift in the Iron Banner playlist in Destiny 2 did not go down so well, at least during the first week of the event.

Thankfully, by the time the second Iron Banner event rolled around, Bungie had implemented a few changes and the mode felt better. The good news (or bad depending on your opinion of Rift) is that the mode won’t be going away but it won’t be a feature in Iron Banner for season 18.

In fact, Bungie says that Rift will be added to the weekly rotator in the Crucible playlist in Weeks 1, 8 and 14 of Season 18.

There is, however, something else on the horizon worth talking about.

That something is a new mode Bungie is calling Eruption. While in development the mode was dubbed Streak Mayhem because of the core loop in the mode.

That loop is obtaining kill streaks. Get two kills and you become Surging. This buff gives the player a 10 percent bump to Super energy regeneration and a 20 percent bump to grenade, melee and class energy regeneration.

Get a fifth kill in a row and players will become Primed. Here every teammate gets a 5 percent bump to Super regeneration and 10 percent bump to grenade, melee and class energy regeneration. The player themselves gets a 12 percent bump to Super regeneration as well as the 5 percent bump their teammates get for class ability regeneration.

Here’s the rub though – once primed, a player gets a 15 second timer on them. Getting kills will extend this timer but once it reaches zero, the player will die. What’s more is that other players will be able to see where the player with the streak is allowing them to dispatch that player.

“We are excited to get Eruption into everyone’s hands, and we hope it continues to illustrate our desire to bring new and unique experiences to the Crucible and Iron Banner,” principal designer at Bungie, Alan Blaine explained in This Week at Bungie.

“One of the things we learned with Rift in this current Season is if we have a brand-new mode (like the most recent iteration of Rift), introducing it to everyone in a high-focus environment first highlights inevitable issues that any multiplayer game has. Instead, we are going to be moving forward with the Zone Control plan, introducing it as low-pressure Crucible Labs first to make sure it performs as intended in a real-world setting. Then, and only then, do we bring the new mode to Iron Banner, albeit with a unique twist,” adds Blaine.

This sounds like a lot of fun for a fully stacked team but we do wonder how this mode will play out in the wild. PvP modes aren’t generally where players switch on voice communication given the potential for harassment and Eruption seems to rely on communication.

One thing we’re happy to see is that Bungie isn’t using Iron Banner as a testing ground for new ideas. While Rift was much loved in Destiny, it was a bit rough around the edges this season.

Still, after months, nay, years of silence as regards PvP, it’s great to see some action in the mode from Bungie’s end.