The current state of Destiny 2 – Content Removal Edition

As you might have heard through multiple news sources, Destiny 2 is getting a massive rework on November.

One concerning fact is that 4 locations are becoming inaccessible after Beyond Light. Before we get into why is this happening we got to take a look at the bigger picture regarding how many barriers are set up for new players and how much relevant content you can play currently.

Current version of the Destiny 2 map. All planets with a huge Pyramid ship on top are getting vaulted.

A quick recap on the story:

To address the elephant in the room, those monolithic Pyramids were part of the main plot on the Shadowkeep expansion. One derelict was found buried under the Moon’s surface last year.

After Destiny 2 vanilla campaign finished years ago the Traveler (big orb thingy that’s above Earth) emitted a surge of power that reached the boundaries of the Solar System. Those Pyramids lied dormant on Dark Space waiting for a clue on the Traveler’s whereabouts. The outbound signal made them aware of Earth’s location. Now the Reapers Darkness itself slowly made it’s way into Solar System and started harvesting power from a few planets.

At least Mercury now looks picture-perfect.

The new player experience – 2020 edition

With the current state of Destiny 2 storyline, it’s very easy for new players to feel overwhelmed with content. There’s still no guide on what to do after creating a character and finishing the new recycled refurbished “Destiny 1” tutorial mission.

You just find yourself suddenly in a social space with no quest markers and no players on local chat.

Regarding social spaces, the area that you load into (The Tower) used to be only available after finishing the Red War campaign. Which was the first story campaign of Destiny 2.

Of all the NPCs that you can talk to, only one provides access to year one story missions and expansions. None of which are mandatory anymore or relevant if you are focused on gearing up a new character.

That’s another downside of the non-existent tutorials. Everyone starts the game right now at 750 power level and the current cap is 1060. There’s no level up system anymore, the only way to get stronger is by farming better gear.

Where and how you farm gear is real question.

How to level up efficiently:

Up until 1000 power level, any gear that you find will most likely be stronger. From 1000 to 1050 power level you need farm “powerful loot” sources for better drops. From 1050 to 1060 only “pinnacle loot” activities will boost you to the maximum seasonal power level. All these sources have markers on the map screen at least.

Here’s a simple short guide to level up your character’s gear during the current season:

  1. Farm random world drops until you reach 1000 power level
  2. Run “Powerful loot” activities until you reach 1050 power level
  3. Run “Pinnacle loot” activities until you reach 1060

Here’s the main culprit that left players writing negative reviews on Steam lately and tons of loot worthless:

See those yellow numbers next to 1050? That means this weapon can be infused/upgraded up until 1060. The next expansion will have almost every activity above 1060, pretty much making this overused SMG obsolete for new content.

Why farm gear? The state of loot and it’s life cycle

Most of the game’s weapons and armors are hard capped at 1060. Only the most recent weapons and armor will be able to be infused above 1060 when the next expansion gets released. Bungie also settled on making sure that every new item has a 3 season life cycle. There are some exceptions however, such as Raid armor and weapons from Forsaken and Shadowkeep + all exotics.

It’s heartbreaking to realize that one weapon roll that you farmed for days and used it for months won’t be strong enough to be viable on new content.

Newcomers shouldn’t find this issue to be bothersome however. Specially since you can only focus on farming items with power caps above 1060 for future use. Just check those yellow numbers to see if your gear won’t be sunset (yes you can still run into gear with the 1060 cap).

Onto the topic of Raids…

Not one, not two but five Raids are getting retired when Beyond Light releases. Three of them are playable right now without owning any expansions. The next expansion will essentially leave the game with no raids available for F2P players at least for a while.

All these issues leaves one last question…

Is it worth to start playing Destiny 2 now?

Unless you have a patient veteran guide willing guide you step by step, the answer is probably no.

Playing by yourself without owning any of the expansions will leave you completely lost after completing the tutorial mission. It’s also fairly difficult to find other F2P players playing old activities that don’t have matchmaking. Being constantly reminded to buy expansions to access more relevant content might leave you frustrated.

One of the goals that Bungie is aiming for on November is making the game more friendly for new players. They plan on doing this by literally recycling the first location on Destiny 1, the “Russian Cosmodrome” and all the activities that were once located there.

This is just one section of Destiny’s “Russian Cosmodrome”

Another feature that’s scheduled is bringing back “The Vault of Glass”, the first Raid made available in Destiny 1 and making it accessible for all players due to being a fair “Entry level Raid”.

As far as it was updated by Bungie, only the “Russian Cosmodrome” and one of three original PvE Strike activities will be available when Beyond Light launches. New players will probably have a more old fashioned and less confusing introduction quests starting on November.

The rest of Destiny 1 content recycle is most likely getting introduced as time goes on.

One day I’ll be telling stories on how the soon to vaulted Red War campaign had breathtaking skyboxes. You can only see this one on the second vanilla story mission.

Spectre

Long time lurker on the old SPUF forums. Sometimes he shares a story regarding the Destiny franchise or an underrated game. As a retired Team Fortress veteran that now spends time in between Destiny and Warframe, Spectre's values quality over content. Usually he leaves his articles in the oven for months.

2 thoughts on “The current state of Destiny 2 – Content Removal Edition

  • November 26, 2020 at 1:26 am
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    Thanks for this. I just dropped into Destiny 2 and was confused when suddenly after what seemed a fairly normal starter tutorial, I was dumped into whatever the base is called and found myself flipping through menus and locations that I felt I was already supposed to know about. Also, I have no idea what to do with the multiple forms of currency or materials I’m getting from harvesting, rewards, and who knows what else.

    I then asked myself, “What am I doing here, then? Where do I go now?”

    A few hours of play later, hoping I’m doing them in the right order or that they won’t disappear in a few weeks, I have more questions than answers. I rolled Warlock because I enjoy supporting my team, but I don’t see a lot of opportunities to do that. It’s just pew pew pew and then return to a location I was already at and pew pew pew some more. I feel like I’ve had to go back to the Russian Cosmodrome six times now for…what, exactly?

    My seven-year-old loves it because it looks great (and it does!!), but man, it’s incomprehensible to me what I’m even doing here…

    Reply
    • November 26, 2020 at 8:13 am
      Permalink

      I stopped playing before the new update deleted half the planets, and I picked Warlock for the same reason – I wanted to support my team. But I found the only real way I could support them was either 1. using a high cooldown puddle that makes allies do more damage, 2. using an even higher cooldown puddle that makes allies do more damage, or 3. shoot things like everyone else.

      Even back then though, aside from getting more weapons to increase a number, I didn’t know what I was meant to do. And I actually had access to more than one raid and strike.

      Reply

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