In 2021, Destiny 2 is a complex game with so many different mechanics, activities, and systems that can be imposing on new players. The amount of interconnected content can be difficult to comprehend all at once. Like most RPG’s Destiny 2 is easy to pick up but difficult to master. Playing through the story campaigns is entertaining and a quick way to level through the initial stage of the game, but the game can get grindy. Keeping up with your weekly challenges and doing Pinnacle grind to get max level can be tedious and repetitive.
We will talk a bit about those things here, but don’t worry, we’re not going to overload you with information, and besides, those aren’t really the concerns for new players.
1. Enjoy the Story
Start by completing all of the available campaigns from the beginning. The way Destiny 2’s leveling system works, it will be much more rewarding and fun for new players to play the older campaigns before jumping into the game’s newest content.
But, more on that later.
Start with the Forsaken expansion campaign, then the Shadowkeep campaign, and then the new Beyond Light campaign. This will introduce the universe of Destiny 2 and all of the factions and characters. Second, you will naturally get to know how the game’s progression and leveling systems work and give you an understanding of other activities to continue raising your level.
You can launch older campaigns by selecting the location in your Director where the campaign takes place. The Forsaken campaign is located on the Tangled Shore, Shadowkeep is located on the moon, and the new Beyond Light Campaign is located on Europa.
With a better understanding of the story and universe of Destiny 2, end-game content is going to be that much more satisfying and fun.
2. Grind Exotic Quests
Between campaigns, new players can mix it up with exotic quests, which are usually awarded after any campaign. Exotic quests are a great way to improve your character’s power level by acquiring new, more powerful gear. New Destiny 2 players can get the awesome exotic “Risk Runner” SMG from the “Spark of Hope” exotic quest acquired right after the game’s intromission.
New players should definitely do exotic quests, as these are a lot of fun and not too difficult. So, definitely check out your exotic quests if you want to take a break from finishing the campaigns.
3. Understand Destiny 2’s Leveling Systems
Destiny 2 progression works, and player characters level up their character level and gear power level. Character level is raised traditionally by gaining XP. The gear power level is improved by finding and using more powerful items.
The higher the average power level of your gear, the more difficult it becomes to find new gear that is more powerful than the gear you have equipped with the average power level.
Not everyone, though, may want to play through the older campaigns before getting into the newest and freshest content. Destiny 2 has to offer, and it can feel tedious to have to be forced to do the old campaigns first. On the other hand, more experienced players returning to Destiny 2 in 2021 may not be excited at having to grind out XP for seasonal artifacts forever. No game’s perfect, and for parts of Destiny 2 that are more tedious than fun, there are plenty of Destiny 2 services for players struggling to enjoy any stage of the game.
Item Power Leveling
The difficulty of finding new, more powerful gear divides players’ leveling progression into 3 tiers.
The first tier of levels is up to the “soft cap” – which is a power level that changes from season to season. But right now, it is 1200 – before hitting the soft cap, all gear drops, new players are guaranteed to be at or above their average power level. This is why it’s more fun for new players to do the previous expansion campaigns first before starting Beyond Light.
Players who are already leveled above the soft cap might not be able to enjoy the Forsaken and Shadowkeep campaigns, as the gear drops they receive after returning won’t improve their power level.
We won’t get into the 2nd and 3rd tiers now but as a brief overview. The second tier of power levels is a lot shorter and a bit more difficult, as it is only through leveled by gear from weekly challenges. The second tier is until power level 1250.
Weekly challenges are in your Director marked with a golden star.
The third tier is from item power levels 1250 to 1260 as of this moment. This tier takes time because the only way to raise your power level is through gear acquired as Pinnacle rewards from high-level, end-game activities like raids and dungeons.
XP Leveling
Lots of activities in Destiny 2 reward you with XP, so you will passively increase your XP level as you play the game. But, for XP power leveling, Destiny 2’s best activity is bounties. You can get Bounties from most NPCs in the game. Bounty quests impose certain restrictions, like forcing you to use certain weapons, etc., and can be limited to only specific kinds of objectives or maps.
4. Unlock Your Seasonal Artifact
Every season you can unlock a new artifact that you can level up with XP. When leveled, your seasonal artifact gives you an additional item power level. So experienced players who have already hit the 1260 gear power level cap can continue to raise their power levels infinitely through gaining XP with seasonal Artifacts.
5. Store Everything Purple
In the tower, you have a vault that can store up to 500 pieces of gear. New players can utilize this by storing all the legendary purple items they get here instead of dismantling them. Don’t worry too much about understanding what all the gear perks do right now. Once you’ve filled up your tower storage somewhat, you can go through each piece of legendary gear and look them up at light.gg to find the best combination of perks available for that piece of gear. Then you can know what gear you should keep and which you should dismantle.
So, we hope that guide helped you get a handle on what you need to do as a new player getting into Destiny 2 in 2021 after Beyond Light.
image source: vgn.it
