Destiny 2

i like it but it needs better new player guidance

Fun endgame content but the start for new players is terrible

While this is marked as recommended, this rating has some pretty deep explanation below. TL:DR at the bottom.
This is a review by a guy who has a total of almost 2,900 hours at the time of writing, cumulative from BattleNet and Steam eras. Would have definitely been a lot more if I wasn't stuck on console for several months and wasn't in school or work when (and after) Steam support was enabled.
I love this game. The universe, the lore, in particular. I have the Chronicler title for a reason, and if I didn't love the game world, I wouldn't have spent even 1000 hours on it. Probably not even 500.
The gameplay and current meta as-is are rapidly degrading. Does it have fun areas? Sure. Is it good fun for new players? Probably. Is it good for players that have been playing the Destiny series since vanilla Destiny 1? Most current sources say no. So, I'll give my opinions below for someone just downloading, or someone purchasing the game's expansions.
The free base game lacks the activities of the current seasonal structure but still has public seasonal events (such as the current guardian games). Is it fun? For a bit. The free campaign is a bit grindy at certain parts and doesn't have the best loot drops, but I'd likely still have fun with it if I hadn't played it before.
There are no REAL re-play-ability features in any of the campaigns, apart from strikes and crucible, but the former gets tiring quickly and the latter loses its spark from time to time. I don't remember if gambit is still free for everyone, but it's in the same murky water.
The paid expansions are interesting, kinda fun solo (for the most part) and definitely fun in a group. If you plan to get any, make sure you get Forsaken and/or Shadowkeep (the 'upgrade edition' is 50 bucks, cheaper than getting both individually). I enjoyed both, and they were fun for a while. Emphasis on a while. I'll get to that later.
Keep in mind that the other campaigns (red war, warmind, and curse of osiris) come first in the timeline.
The other main paid feature (currently) are the Seasons. Each season comes with a different suite of content that will (currently) be phased out at the end of the season to make room for new content. This INCLUDES all matchmaking activities and triumphs attached to that particular season, as well as the seasonal badges.
Sundial is a perfect example of this. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it. It comes from the most recent lapsed season.
The current season is very, VERY bland and tedious. It revolves almost ENTIRELY around Bounty completions, small tasks that have no real impact on gameplay other than to mix up what you need to do with your arsenal to complete their contents. The grind takes an age if you don't have days straight to play, and ends up with very little satisfaction because of how little content there is.
This is only a real issue if you've been playing the game fairly regularly. If you're new to the game and/or universe, this issue will be far less apparent, and may not even show up until the next season due to the plethora of content available for a fresh character to complete. Unfortunately, however, this content drought cycle has become a VERY strong pattern. Luckily one that does not make me pay much for it, but one that still hurts all the same.
Seasons are purchasable via a 'season pass' or individually. I'm not sure if costs are the same either way, the option disappears after purchase of the current pass.
Contents include the seasonal content alongside something similar to the season passes in Fortnight, Division 2, COD, etc. without being the useless cash grabs that those ones are. I actually like the system of the reward track accompanying new content rather than it being separate from that release's dlc.
Are there items that encourage play? Yes. Is there a way to buy levels in the pass? Yes, but the items within the pass do not a strong character make, and purchasing levels is FULLY LOCKED until the season is almost over, rendering the possibility of pay-to-win being almost impossible.
Granted, f2p content does not have a large pool of excellent weaponry, but that's been a fact since before the game went free-to play, and I don't think the difference in loot pools is nearly as significant as some people would claim. Especially with the new armor system.
There's also loot boxes, but you can earn (most of) the items in the Eververse through gameplay and bright dust bounties. Does this mean I'm advocating the required completion of bounties for most cosmetics? Hell no. I'm borderline pissed that there STILL aren't any cosmetics attainable through normal gameplay and activity completion apart from the prestige Leviathan ornaments.
Now, would I recommend this game? This is very complicated, as you can probably tell from the above.
For a new player with low dedication / time allocation to the universe of the game? Yes!
There's a plethora of content to enjoy out of the box, and the fact that it's only 60 bucks for '3 years' of content is quite the steal.
To a new or returning player familiar with the lore, universe and with a lot of time on their hands to complete everything the game throws at us? Probably not. It really depends:
- If you haven't played D2 yet, you might get a good couple hundred hours of play time out of the box between grinding out the campaigns and hitting endgame 'earlier than intended'. For those of you, the 60 bucks might be worth it.
- For people who played vanilla and/or forsaken and/or shadowkeep? I assume you know most of the problems I mentioned above, and know to wait and see what they plan to change with their content-cycling system before you come back. I definitely wouldn't recommend a return at this point unless you want to get some friends into the game, or want to grind out the seasonal activities to see where the story is leading.
TL:DR; I recommend this game with a few heavy warnings:
1- If you plan on playing this game for an extended period of time, expect heavy content drought between season releases.
2- If you are returning to the game, I would suggest waiting or doing research on how Bungie is changing content-cycle systems.
3- If you've purchased or completed shadowkeep and/or forsaken and plan on getting the seasons, do NOT EXPECT THE SEASONS TO REFLECT THIS AMOUNT OF CONTENT. Seasonal content is often particularly gimmicky. Particularly, overuse of bounty mechanics is a huge let down.

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe
---{Gameplay}---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Starring at walls is better
☐ Just don‘t
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☐ Adults
☑ Humans
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boiiiiii
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulty}---
☐ Just press ‚A‘
☐ Easy
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Grind}---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isnt necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☑ Too much grind
☐ You‘ll need a second life for grinding
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{Price}---
☑ It’s free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
☐ Fallout 76

I HAVE SPENT(or wasted): 1000 HRS OF MY LIFE ON THIS GAME (Which is nothing compared to some of you, but I like the number 1000)
And therefore, I now feel like an entitled idiot who will now give you a review. Because after spending 1000 hrs of my oxygen and brain-cell power on this game, I feel like I know just little bit about it. A little bit. So without any more stupid rambling, here's my poorly constructed, naive, and somewhat botched review of Destiny 2...*clears throat*
I joined the ranks of the Vanguard when D2 was on the ol' Battlenet, back when Activision still had its mits on Bugie's precious player base. And since its migration to the new platform here at Steam, there have indeed been some changes in latency, player-base, and server issues. Which to be honest, I think we all expected right from the word go.
If you are starting D2 as a new light with no background knowledge, it is important to remember that progressing through every task given to you is going to get you that light-level advantage when leveling up your guarding for the first time. This is where the first hiccup comes in.. Since we had the big Shadowkeep update, trying to figure out where to go next in your quests can be a small nightmare.
I spent an entire night with one of my clan's blueberries trying to help her figure out where to go before we succumbed to Googling the directions like tourists in a foreign city. If Bungie could potentially alter the quest tracking to perhaps make the major quests more linear in their pursuit, it'd be a whole lot easier for people coming in with no prior knowledge to the games mechanics.
That said, If you need to go in blind, always check your destinations tab and hover over each planet where the flashing symbol is relevant to your quest. Each major DLC will have a symbol that you can follow through the Solar System.
To get to the major stories: Amanda Holiday herself is where you will find the major story line journeys as you begin your career as a magnificent Space Moron.
Destiny 2 I think appeals to people who have a good eye for lore and rich environments. The first thing that overwhelmed me was how detailed some of the biomes were. Especially the Dreaming City, which I think we can all agree is one heck of a place! It's pretty important to take note of those small details that Bungie has put in, down to reading the lore books that are there too. One aspect however that the current player base rolls their eyes at is the bounty system: Bounties are the backbone of the seasonal progress. And while I get that Bungo has tried to centre its play style around bounty completions, which can get repetitive, you do have to engage with this mechanic to build your light level.
What D2 additionally excels at is creating a place where you can progress at your own speed, or have your fireteam/clan help you through certain areas that you need help with. The Clan system offered by D2 is a standout in that it allows you to connect your skills with that of others to accomplish tasks that are integral to the game. There is some content that does very much need a fireteam to be completed. But if you're a magical rootin' tootin' alien shootin' god of computers games, then running solo can always give you big results too.
The main consensus is however that joining a clan is is your best interest. And that is because the gain you can receive in loot and bounty-clocking is a lot better when you have other Space Morons with you terrorising the universe.
Which brings me to the PVP element. *Deep sigh*
As a PVE enthusiast, I thought I'd never really delve into the PVP elements solely because my level of skill is appalling. I know Shaxx is very encouraging everytime I go to see him, but I'm 99.9% sure he's just being nice to poor little Miss D, who repeatedly falls of the map while she is scoped in.
With how many people do have accounts solely for the purpose of playing Crucible Competitive and Trials of Osiris, you are going to find some of your matches are going to be simply dying repeatedly to laggy space-apes who are not going to change from using their shotguns. The toxicity level of these groups (which can sometimes be entire clans of elitist PVP lunatics) you really have to ignore if you want to try and push your way through the ranks.
However if you have a supportive clan (like mine) you'll find after a few rounds and finding your optimal loadout, you will enjoy it!
Following the meta on weapon types can help you get your feet in a match, but be aware you will not be liked for it!
Finally we have the guardian classes themselves.
I feel this is absolutely worth talking about, and when you look at the pop culture around each class, you can't help but be entertained by it all.
What you play effects very much your play style: Hunters are often high speed, high damage dealing plucky little acrobats with big mouths. Warlocks are the bookworms with a ego who think they are the only reason the team didn't wipe on the boss. And Titans... well. We just like Titans because they are easy to pick and often have Crayola dust left on their helmets after too many snacks.
Jokes aside, a well constructed fireteam/raid team/6 stack will have at least one of each class. This generally distributes the skill pattern quite well, and some of the most stress-free raids I've ever run have had a good balance of all 3.
Again. However:
If you want to run yourself through most of this game for the challenge, Titans do possess the skill trees that can more effectively push you through the more difficult situations you may find yourself in. Yes, we pick on them relentlessly, but they do play a big role in Destiny, and will continue to be fantastic Space Apes into the future of D2.
Well. I've finished dinner and written 6 or so paragraphs, so I suppose this is where you end a review? I have no idea. As mentioned afore, I have the writing competency of a scientific calculator if you had taped fake nails on it and asked it to do a bachelor of journalism.
All-in-all, I have immensely enjoyed this game, and will continue to. Yes this game has some serious bugs, but it is still lovable in its own buggy way. Have a go. Watch some guides. Get a good clan (come join ours it's the best). Go give the Darkness the stiff upper lip and have a gaff with Zavala.
10/10 for Creativity and Originality.
7/10 for Space Magic.
1/10 for Chonky Crayons.
8/10 for Gameplay.
11/10 for Good TImes!
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. No refunds on brain cells lost from reading all of this garbage.
Salut!

Likes:
- Lots of high quality content to do, especially for a free to play game
- Big immersive planets to explore and get lost in
- Both pve and pvp modes are fun
- The game is very pretty
- Sound design, voice acting, soundtrack are very good
- Core gameplay mechanics are polished and satisfying, such as gunplay and jumping and riding the sparrow
Dislikes:
-Unfriendly to new players because of the sheer amount of content they immediately have access to, with no clear indication of what the symbols on the map mean, combined with a disorganized quest menu, among other grievances. This is definitely a game where you should look up a quick beginner's guide as a newbie to point you in the right directions.
- No ingame guildfinder, you have to do that on bungie's website for some reason
- Hard to keep track of quests; you should be able to pin more than 4 quests at a time, the menu is disorganized and quests can get lost, and a lot of quests will leave you scratching your head until you just have to google how to complete it
- A few instances of missions bugging out forcing you to restart
- Waypoints could be better and less finicky
- Menus are not good in general
Recommendation:
If you like the idea of exploring, particularly in a space and science fiction setting, you might really enjoy this game. If you like shooting a bunch of things and chasing after loot, you will like this game. It can/does become a massive time sink however, which might be a good or bad thing depending on the player.
If you are even considering playing this game, you should just give it a try because its free to play and you have nothing to lose. You might even really like it!

Honestly this game in incredibly fun I just have one big issue with it but that just has to do with the fact that I'm not a very social person. Most of the games content CAN be done by yourself but there's still a lot of it that you're forced to make a fireteam (not matchmaking) to complete and that really hinders my progress since I don't really have many friends.