Has the free-to-play version Destiny 2: New Light captured your interest and you want to try your hand as a Guardian? In this beginner’s guide to Destiny, we explain some important things that should make your entry into the Destiny universe easier.
What is Destiny 2: New Light? Destiny 2: New Light refers to the available free-to-play version of Destiny 2. It has been available since October 1, 2019, on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam.
Destiny 2 itself is a multiplayer online shooter with MMO elements, played from a first-person perspective. The game puts you in the role of a Guardian – essentially an immortal space warrior who protects the remnants of humanity from various dangers, such as hostile alien races.
Central to the game are not only the battles but also the loot and character progression. You will experience cool adventures on different planets, blast countless aliens and various space monstrosities, and collect new weapons and gear.
Your character becomes increasingly powerful and learns new abilities.
By the way, if you’re still undecided whether you should give New Light a chance: 4 reasons why every shooter fan should try Destiny 2: New Light
Everything you should know for getting started with Destiny 2: New Light
This is what the guide contains: Destiny 2: New Light offers a plethora of content and is quite complex in places. Additionally, much has changed with New Light and the new Shadowkeep expansion. This can easily overwhelm new Guardians at the beginning:
- What should I do first?
- What should I pay attention to at the beginning?
With this guide, we aim to answer your questions and make your first steps in the world of Destiny 2 easier.
The character creation – This is how your journey begins
What you should know about choosing a class: At the beginning of your journey, you should create your Guardian. You can choose between 3 classes:
- Hunter
- Titan
- and Warlock
The most important things about classes and races in Destiny 2:
- First of all – none of these classes are better or stronger than the others.
- The choice of race does not matter at all – neither story-wise, nor for gameplay.
The classes differ only in their special abilities, which have different strengths and can shine in various situations:
- The Titan is the classic frontline fighter
- The Warlock is a kind of space wizard
- and the Hunter is basically an agile rogue.
Each of these classes has different focuses, the subclasses, with which you further specialize.
When choosing your class, you can decide based on your gut feeling about who you want to play. You can also create up to three Guardians per account. So if you want to try out each class, that’s no problem.
What you should pay attention to when creating your character: However, keep in mind that you cannot change your appearance (head) after character creation. So take your time with the appearance of your Guardian.
More about the classes & abilities can be found in the beginner video by Nexxoss Gaming at minute 2:46. The video is linked at the end of the article in full.
What should I play first?
This is how you get into the game: The first mission of Destiny 2, the introduction to the game has been specially revised for New Light and is the same for all new players and is also mandatory.
You wake up in the Cosmodrome, fight your way through the ruins to your ship, and then fly to the Tower of the Last City on Earth.
What’s up with the Tower? It is a social space from which the game will unfold for you. Here you can take on various quests from NPCs that will gradually open up the world of Destiny 2 for you. This will give you access to more locations and activities.
You can find an overview of your active quests and bounties (smaller tasks) under the “Quests” menu item in the navigator. The NPCs are also marked for you on the Tower map. You can also see immediately in the game when they have a quest ready for you.
Your first quests in the Tower of Destiny 2
This is how you unlock additional content: First, for example, NPC Ikora Rey gives you the task to explore the European Dead Zone on Earth.
To do this, select Earth in the navigator and fly there. There, you look for the planet-specific NPC (marked on the map with a quest symbol) from whom you will receive further minor tasks.
This way, you earn XP, Experience Points, and with these experience points you gradually unlock the next location – in this case Titan (the planet, not the class). Then it continues in the same principle.
In addition, one of the first tasks is to play Strikes (a kind of mini-dungeons). As you level up, you unlock the Nightfall Strikes, a harder version of the Strikes, where you can get better gear.
Also, you need to complete an introduction to the Crucible, the PvP area of the game.
In short: Pay attention to the offers and quest markers of the NPCs in the Tower and on the planet. Complete these quests bit by bit. This way, you explore all areas of the game, level up, and are gradually introduced to the endgame, where you can take on challenging group activities like raids.
You can find detailed information on leveling, quests, and the map in Nexxoss Gaming’s video guide at minute 5:49.
This is how it continues once you are settled in
This is how you can enjoy the story of Destiny 2 in a targeted manner: Once you have unlocked the planets and gained some experience with quests and bounties, it is advisable to play the three previous campaigns from years 1 and 2. This way, you can better understand the story of Destiny 2 and are guided through some locations in an orderly manner.
You can do this with NPC Amanda Holiday in the Tower hangar. There, you can activate the three campaigns either all at once or step by step. Here, the following order is recommended in order to experience the story chronologically:
- The Red War
- Curse of Osiris
- War Mind
What’s up with the Power Level?
This is what the Power Level does: The Power Level shows how strong you are. It also determines which activities you can effectively tackle.
Each piece of equipment has a certain Power Level. The Power Level of your character is determined by the average of all the values of your equipped gear – that is, weapons and armor pieces.
Activities have a certain Power Level that is recommended for them. Enemies also have different Power Levels. If you are far below, you will have problems with the activity. Against enemies, you will do less damage and take less damage yourself. If you are too underleveled, you may not be able to damage some enemies at all.
For example, if you see an enemy with a red skull on their health bar, it’s time to run.
What you should still know about the Power Level: All players of New Light and all players of the “full” version of Destiny 2 started at Power Level 750. This is currently, in October 2019, the new base level in Destiny 2.
One of your goals now is to increase your Power Level as much as possible by acquiring stronger gear (with a higher Power Level).
Up to Power Level 900, the so-called soft cap, it should go relatively quickly. Until then, most of the items found will be a Power upgrade for you.
From 900 to the powerful cap of 950, the sources for loot that advance you in Power Level become less. Many of these are weekly limited and only available through challenging activities or challenges.
From 950 to the hard or pinnacle cap of 960, only a few sources provide progress. These are the most difficult activities in the game.
This is how you continue to level up beyond the level cap: With the seasonal artifact, you can continue to level up beyond the hard cap – essentially indefinitely. However, the additional Power Levels achieved through the artifact only apply for the respective season and will be reset at the end of it.
What the artifact is and how it works, you can find out here: How powerful the 1st artifact in Destiny 2 makes you – We know all the bonuses
Rarity levels for loot
Different quality in loot: The equipment you get during your adventures has various rarity or quality levels. As the rarity level increases, so does the number of perks (bonuses) that a piece of armor offers.
- White gear (common) is the worst level. This is only available at the beginning of the game
- Green (uncommon) armor is somewhat better but should be replaced as soon as possible
- Blue (rare) gear can accompany you through a significant part of the game
- Purple (legendary) items will then be the main components of your gear.
- Yellow (exotic) equipment pieces are the rarest items in the game and also bring unique, powerful bonuses. You can only have one weapon and one armor exotic equipped at the same time.
The sources for loot: Gear generally comes from various sources such as
- Random drops
- Engrams
- Match or bounty rewards
- Loot chests
- Season Pass
- and more
With Shadowkeep, Destiny 2 has received the new armor system Armor 2.0. This system also applies in New Light. How it works in detail can be found here: The new Armor 2.0 revolutionizes Destiny 2 – and I love everything about it
Further information on Power levels and the rarity levels of loot can be found at minute 10:44 in Nexxoss Gaming’s video guide. Information on the most powerful loot and where exactly to find it can be found from minute 17:26.
Things to consider in combat
What should I consider with weapons and how do I use them properly? In combat, various weapon categories are available to you. This refers not to the numerous weapon types like handguns, assault rifles, or rocket launchers, but to the slots in which the individual weapons are carried. There are
- Kinetic weapons (white ammunition), have no damage element, effective against enemies without shields
- Energy weapons (green ammunition), effective against shields, especially of the same element
- Power weapons (purple ammunition), the strongest weapons in the game, effective against shields, especially of the same element
There are three elements in total for weapons, abilities, and enemy shields
- Arc (blue)
- Solar (red)
- Void (purple)
So if you have an enemy with an Arc overshield, energy weapons or power weapons with Arc damage are the most effective. By the way, you usually get the ammunition from fallen enemies. The packages are also color-coded accordingly.
What you should also know about your enemies: Enemies have different toughness levels: To know which enemies you are facing in your respective adventure, we list here what distinguishes the enemy categories:
- Enemies with red health bars are the easiest
- Enemies with red health bars and an overshield are slightly harder
- Enemies with orange health bars are called Majors. They have more health and are harder to defeat.
- Then there are bosses and mini-bosses with yellow health bars. These enemies are particularly tough, have a large health pool, and are difficult to defeat.
For more information on combat and enemies, you can check out Nexxoss’s video at minute 13:18.
Gather materials diligently
What’s up with the materials? In Destiny 2, there are massive amounts of materials. These include
- Planet-specific resources like Dusklight Shards from Earth or Simulation Seeds from Mercury
- Weapon parts
- Legendary Shards
- Improvement cores
- Upgrade Modules
- and more
You can find them on planets, by dismantling equipment, as rewards, or you can obtain them in exchange for other materials. Without going into too much detail, materials are important, and you will need them often. So collect them wherever you can. They are needed for many things in Destiny 2 – whether enhancing your armor in the context of Armor 2.0 or as currency for purchasing certain items.
If you have too much of some of these resources, you can often exchange them for urgently needed materials with NPC Spider in the Tangled Shore.
You can learn more about the materials at minute 16:10 in Nexxoss Gaming’s video guide.
The beginner guide in video: This initial information should make your entry as a freshly baked Guardian in the world of Destiny 2 easier. You can find more details in the video from Nexxoss. Here you can watch it in full if you wish:
If you like New Light and are considering continuing your journey possibly in Shadowkeep, take a look at this article:
