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DecemberA Few Helpful Tips to Get Started in Destiny 2: Forsaken
While players don’t yet have a clear picture of how deep Halo Infinite is going to go down the Destiny road, it’s obvious that they will need to introduce activities that keep players engaged outside of just PvP and re-runs of the story missions. 343 Industries should absolutely be looking to satisfy their PvE-focused audience with challenging, repeatable, and rewarding endgame activities that respect the player’s time and provide a meaningful loop for players to engage
When Destiny 2 launched, it was arguably a shell of the original. Sure the story was a little more cinematic, but much of what had made Destiny fun and compelling was now strangely absent. Customizable class builds were gone, replaced by ones pre-made by Bungie. Randomly-rolled loot was gone too; now all one had to do was get a gun once and that was it. No more chasing godrolls. Supers were toned-down and put on an excessively long timer; the other abilities were too. There was "more" to do in the hub-worlds too, but it all somehow came-off as even more shallow than the activities available in the original. Throw an over-emphasized Eververse and a merely "okay" raid (with disappointing loot) on top of that and the recipe for a disastrous launch period is complete.
"Armor 2.0" is perhaps the biggest foundational update that Destiny 2 has seen since Forsaken, as it both reintroduced the old stats from Destiny 1 and gave players a means to craft their own character builds via mods and randomly-rolled stats. Following this, Season of the Worthy hosted the return of every Crucible fanatic’s favorite mode: Trials of Osiris. There are still balancing issues and such to iron out of course, but at this moment it’s probably safe to say that Destiny 2 has finally surpassed its predecessor in just about every meaningful way. It’s still a different game of course, but that difference is no longer a bad thing.
As an example, consider Destiny 2 ’s recent Season of Dawn . Fresh off the laurels of Season of Undying , Guardians had just slain an epic time-jumping Vex Mind known creatively as "The Undying Mind." However, this creature’s death caused ripples in the fabric of time, ripples that allowed the mysterious Osiris to activate a powerful machine called the Sundial. With it, Guardians were able to travel through the Corridors of Time which gave them the ability to not only meet but save their long lost hero Saint-XIV. Saving Saint eventually led to the creation of the Lighthouse, which was the basis of the long-awaited return of Trials of Osiris a season later in Season of the Wort
Destiny 2’s fourth expansion, Shadowkeep, and its most recent seasons have kept the positive momentum going. With the release of Shadowkeep, Guardians got to return to The Moon to take on nightmarish versions of many defeated foes. The main content additions also included two new strikes, one new Crucible map, two new-ish Crucible Maps and the "Garden of Salvation" raid. Shadowkeep also brought with it the reorganization of the Crucible and the launch of "Armor 2.0."
Good perks for this weapon include Enlightened Action , Frenzy, Perpetual Motion, and even Vorpal Weapon. Hunters, Critical hits guide in particular, can use the exotic Lucky Pants with Vorpal Weapon to boost weapon damage so high that the gun can destroy Champions in one cylinder. This weapon is definitely a must-have for Hand Cannon lovers, and it even comes in Adept versions for those able to complete Grandmaster Nightfa
In addition to the new dungeon, Bungie also upped the rewards on their punishingly difficult Grandmaster Nightfall Ordeals. Players who get to the end of these mega-challenge missions in Destiny 2 are guaranteed to earn Ascendant Shards, the most coveted currency in the game. Bungie has shown that they want to encourage players to challenge themselves and are finally handing out the loot to justify the eff
This is an easy one but an important first step. Due to all the change that has come with Forsaken getting one’s bearings on what all has changed with menus and inventory will be the most important. There are now Triumphs to be tracked, Collections to be had and an assortment of other things that are all around different. The Cryptarch can now break down Shaders in quantities of five; all those Shaders going to no use? Head over to Rhaul and he’ll be happy to get rid of them quickly as you can hit a button over and over (took me less than five minutes to get ride of most of my useless Shaders). Players returning might also notice that all of the modifications are null and void. This is due to the entirely revamped modification system, so might as well delete those too. Don’t freak out seeing that light level of certain items has gone down, this is just the modifications being useless and one’s Light Level going up will quickly fix this.
New expansion means new story, new story means new area and new area means new NPCs to give out fun stuff. Upon the initial Prison Break and Cayde’s death, Guardians will immediately make their way to The Tangled Shore in tracking down the escapees. The leader of this tangled web is a wonderful Fallen NPC named Spider. Spider helps in getting the ball rolling in tracking down the big-bads and seeking vengeance upon Uldren. He also is extremely helpful in getting one’s Light Level up the easy way. Sure, he sells the resources needed to now infuse gear into other gear, but honestly that will cost some serious glimmer. If not wanting to farm glimmer while wasting time, instead start chipping away at those bounties he has available. This is an easy first step in getting solid legendary gear that won’t break the bank or ones will. This will see Guardians returning to areas familiar such as the EDZ while heading into Lost Sectors to hunt those who’ve broken out of Prison. These are not the main Wardens in the main quest but regular high-level enemies that upon killing will complete a bounty for good gear. The Bounties stick around for a week making it a solid initial jumping off point.