Few games are as hard to get into as complex MMOs. While Destiny 2 might not be an MMO in the traditional sense, it comes with the same barrage of mechanics and activities as those games do. And just like most MMOs, Destiny 2 is intimidating to get into.
Thankfully, there are plenty of guides and community groups out there that make this beast of a game much easier to understand. A great first step to getting into Destiny 2 is to join a clan, a group of players that play together under a callsign. Here is how to join a clan in Destiny 2 alongside 9 other things that newer players should know about.
10/10 How To Join A Clan
To join a clan in Destiny 2, players can send a join clan request to any player part of said clan in-game. As for finding clans, players can look on the Bungie Forums or through the Destiny 2 PC LFG Discord server to find like-minded Guardians to play with. Clans grant passive perks thanks to the clan banner as well as weekly engrams and bounties for playing together.
9/10 Change Subclasses
Destiny 2 doesn't make it clear that every Subclass has unique trees that players can spec into. For those wondering how to change their grenade or Super, head to the inventory menu and hover over the Subclass. Inspect that class to open up a new menu. This menu shows a few options such as grenades, class ability, jumps, and the general Subclass tree that determines a player's Super and melee ability.
8/10 Starting The Campaign
Newer players are given a rather vague tutorial on how to interact with the game's dozens of systems, yet the tutorial does little for explaining the game's lore or guide the player towards its various campaigns.
These campaigns are still in the game. To start any campaign, head to Amanda Holiday in the Tower Hanger to obtain the starting level for each of Destiny 2's Year 1 campaigns. To start Forsaken or Shadowkeep's campaigns, players will need to purchase the corresponding DLC to see it appear on their Director. These campaigns are fantastic for learning more about Destiny 2's universe as well as getting familiar with shooting and using abilities.
7/10 Equip Armor Mods
Similar to how players can alter their Subclass tree, so too can they alter the perks provided on their armor. Inspect any armor piece and it will reveal a menu that allows the player to slot in unique armor mods onto their gear. These mods range from providing increased stats to spawning more ammo on kills. Every player should take advantage of these mods to make the game much easier.
6/10 How To Increase Power Level
Similar to many MMOs, Destiny 2 gauges a player's strength with a single stat named Power level. This level determines how much damage they take and receive in PvE and Power-enabled PvP activities like Trials of Osiris.
To increase a Guardian's Power level, players can complete weekly activities on their Director to obtain Powerful and even Pinnacle gear. Pinnacle gear provides a +6 to +7 Power bonus until a player reaches the Power soft cap, which is currently 1050 Power in Season of Arrivals. Once they reach this level, players can only increase their level by obtaining Pinnacle engrams. Players also earn Power from their Seasonal Artifact by simply earning experience.
5/10 Upgrade The Seasonal Artifact
Each season in Destiny 2 Year 3 has come with a Seasonal Artifact. This Artifact grants Power level as well as unique mods that can give Exotics a run for their money. Unlocking the Artifact itself typically occurs after a short questline tied to the season. Once obtained, players simply need to earn experience points by playing the game and completing Bounties to unlock new Artifact mods to equip on their gear. Some of the strongest builds in Destiny's history require these mods.
4/10 Use The Vault
All social spaces in Destiny 2 provide access to a player Vault, an inventory that is shared across all characters that can store up to 500 items. Whenever a great weapon or armor piece drops that isn't useful at the current moment, put it into the Vault for later use. The Farm, the Tower, and the Tribute Hall each have Vaults players can access.
3/10 Inventory Management
Speaking of inventories, managing a character's inventory can be grueling once players obtain a large suite of gear. Fortunately, certain talented community members have made external tools to make inventory management much easier.
Destiny Item Manager is an app that players can use to transfer weapons between their characters or from their Vault from anywhere. You can even transfer gear over in the middle of a raid or Crucible match! DIM also allows players to create custom loadouts to make swapping items around much easier. There are other item manager apps besides DIM as well that excel at different things. Get out there and take advantage of what the community has developed!
2/10 LFG Services
LFG, a shorthand term for "looking for group," is a core part of finding other Guardians to complete the game's hardest content such as Grandmaster Nightfalls and Trials of Osiris. Whenever an activity needs other players, the Bungie Forums as well as the Destiny 2 PC LFG Discord can be used to quickly form a Fireteam.
1/10 Make Public Events Heroic
Nothing screams "blueberry" more than a Guardian who doesn't know how to make a Public Event heroic. It might sound strange that this is at the top of the list, but the number of players that don't know how to make certain activities heroic is baffling.
Don't be one of those players. There are plenty of guides online on how to make each Public Event heroic, but arguably the most important one to know is the Taken Blight Public Event. To make this event heroic, stand in a Taken Blight and run out of it. This will provide a temporary buff that allows the giant blight at the center of the event to be damaged. Deal as much damage to this blight as possible. When it gets destroyed, a unique boss will spawn that will signal the start of the heroic variant.
