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Destiny: The Taken King is upon us, and many players who perhaps fell away from Destiny over its first year will be looking to jump back into the Year Two excitement. The trouble is, many players may feel a bit lost when they begin, so VideoGamer has put together a list that should help you get straight back into the swing of things on September 15.
Use your free Level 25 Character Boost
The Taken King will include a free boost that will allow you to take one Guardian straight to level 25, the level required to access the expansion’s content. Called The Spark of Light, this consumable will appear in your consumables upon the launch of the expansion. If you already have a Guardian above this limit, then it’s still worth using on a different Guardian class so you can enjoy running through the game with two separate characters.
This level 25 Character Boost cuts out a significant amount of grinding, and allows you to jump straight into the year two content.
Earn Motes of Light
Following the Destiny 2.0 update, Motes of Light can be used to upgrade weapons. By spending Motes of Light in the inventory menu, all currently-equipped gear will earn experience. This gives players another way of cutting out time grinding and having a weapon maxed out and ready to go.
Pledge allegiance to a Faction
In update 2.0, Factions are getting a complete overhaul. Rather than donning a Faction’s class armour in order to show your allegiance, players will now have to pledge to one Faction and pay Glimmer in their commitment. This can only be done once per week, and if you want to switch to another group early, you’ll have to pay.
But it’s important to align with a Faction early so that your Vanguard or Crucible rep also goes towards building up reputation with either New Monarchy, Future War Cult or Dead Orbit. This way you’ll be able to buy Faction-specific items once you’ve reach a certain level.
Stock up on Bounties
In Destiny 2.0 players can now take up to 16 bounties, and upon completion, cash them in from the ‘Quests’ menu, rather than having to journey back to the Tower. Taking on more bounties means earning experience faster, and reaching the level cap sooner. Make sure you immediately stock up on the full amount of bounties, taking those which are achievable for your style of play (so if you aren’t particularly strong in The Crucible, don’t take Crucible bounties).
The bounties are in addition to your main quests, which also grant extra rewards and will unlock the third subclass in the main story missions.
Stare at the stats
While it’s easy to navigate through Destiny’s menus and focus only on equipping the best gear for your Guardian and getting back into the action, it’s worth taking the time to learn what each stat actually means.
Destiny is full to the brim with different consumables, items and numbers which affect your character, and understanding how to make the most of what you have will be key to surviving, particularly in PvP.
Don’t agonize over old weapons
With the Destiny update, many Year One weapons have had their damage stats reset, with the push for players to try and earn new weapons and gear in The Taken King. Also, in a contentious move, Bungie will not be allowing players to progress Year One weapons on par with Year Two, meaning they’ll always remain less powerful.
With this in mind, try not to agonise too much over old items. While you may have put a lot of time and effort into unlocking them, it probably won’t be long before you move on to The Taken King content. It may be worth dismantling those treasured guns for their materials in order to upgrade your shiny new weapons and upgrade them instead.
Take your time
Destiny is a marathon, not a sprint. At times it’s an outright slog. While there’ll naturally be players who hit the level cap in the first five seconds of The Taken King’s launch, it’s best to not get burned out and run out of new content too soon. Take your time and enjoy what’s on offer and that way the steady drip-feed of new toys will be more welcomed as you put in the hours.
Join up with a bunch of friends in a Fireteam and take on Oryx in what will no doubt become an incredibly challenging fresh set of missions for Guardians.
