Destiny 2

With almost 300 hours of Destiny 2 (D2) back on Battle.net (the Blizzard launcher), let me give this perspective/advice for new players, specifically with regards for the F2P offering that is Destiny 2: New Light, with a few more holistic thoughts sprinkled throughout:
This overall game is good. It doesn't always live up to its promise (the first mission of every campaign is always the most polished thing aside from the raids/dungeons), but when it does, it really shines.
The gunplay is unrivaled. The visual/audio feedback is great, the handling feels really good, and enemies really pop when you take them out. Expect nothing less from the studio that brought us grunt birthday parties.
The game is better in a fireteam. Now that the base game is F2P (with a lot of content behind it), this should be easier than ever for most activities. That said, a huge majority of my playtime was done solo. It can get tricky at times ("Darkness Zones" in certain missions prevent respawning but allow for revives, so solo players have a distinct disadvantage there).
With that said, dungeons (currently only 'The Shattered Throne' and the new one, 'Pit of Heresy', for Shadowkeep) and raids ("Leviathan" + its shorter, mini "Raid Lairs" ('Spire of Stars' and 'Eater of Worlds' Y1/F2P), "Scourge of the Past" (Y2 Annual Pass), "Crown of Sorrows" (Y2 Annual Pass), "Last Wish" (Forsaken), and "Garden of Salvation" (Shadowkeep) are best experienced with a team, so don't shy away from LFG group-finder options like the Discord, official app, or any number of other sites (just make sure to accurately describe your experience, level, and gear. 'Tis only polite).
Of the matchmade multiplayer offerings, I really enjoy Gambit (PvPvE, reminds me of the Black Ops Zombies 4z4 mode done right), jump into the occasional Strike (PvE, matchmade fireteams running campaign-like missions), and have no interest in Crucible (PvP, it's fine I guess, but I've never liked PvP that's dependent, at least in part, on personal progression)
Don't be afraid to ignore content - this is absolutely the kind of game where you can set your own goals. Want a specific exotic gun? Look up where it drops and focus on grinding that content. Want a specific roll on a random roll gun? Find the best possible farming method and go to town. Chase down some of the exotic questions that the game clutters up your quest page with, or just goof around doing things that you find fun while absolutely ignoring all signposts.
Some stuff just won't be explained in game. It's not as bad as Warframe (much less need for a wiki) but some things are still obscured. Feel free to look up Xur (exotic weapon vendor who visits on weekends) Whisper of the Worm, Zero Hour, and Bad Juju as just a few of the more obscure pieces of content out there.
For anything that you can't easily find online - reach out and find a sherpa. The community for this game tends to be pretty great, and enough of us have spent enough time leaning specific parts of it (e.g. raids) or just mechanics in general ("What are random rolls? Which do I keep?") that we'd be happy to jump onto discord (there are a bunch for PC, just check out the subreddit sidebar linked below) and answer any and all questions you may have.
Now is a great time to be getting into Destiny 2. You absolutely won't regret it. Take all of the pettiness and negative reviews about the game going F2P, servers crashing for less than an hour after launch (c'mon guys), or whatever else has people triggered with a massive grain of salt. The fact that a representative chunk of this game is now free makes this the perfect time to dip your toes in without emptying out your wallet (unless you're crazy like me). Any other questions about this game as a product ("Should I pay for DLC? Is Eververse worth it?") should absolutely be researched elsewhere.
If you're looking for a place to start with the F2P content, finish the intro mission in the Cosmodrome, load into the Tower (social area), turn left from the spawn and make your way to the Hangar (check your map with Tab if you get lost) and talk to Amanda Holiday in the Tower and check out her Legacy Content offerings. Release order was The Red War > Curse of Osiris > Warmind, but you can probably skip Curse of Osiris if you want. Remember, everyone is starting at the max light level from the Forsaken expansion, which is great for playing with veterans without too much grinding, but means that you miss out on the "learning the ropes" parts of the game that come with working your way through the story campaigns.
Eyes up, guardian. Moon's haunted.
Sites to use:
Official Quick Start Guide to Destiny 2 :
The DTG Subreddit (/r/DestinyTheGame on Reddit)- www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame
Beginner's Guide (Currently the stickied post on the subreddit as of this writing)-
Compiled Guide List (Found in the subreddit Sidebar)-
Polygon Beginner's Guide (Basically this with a few more mechanical tips) -
Destiny Item Manager (manged your inventory from your browser even while in-game, essential to avoid unneeded trips back to the tower) - app.destinyitemmanager.com
Destiny 2 Checklist (Lists out everything to do as well as when it resets in-game) - www.d2checklist.com/
Light gg (Database of in-game items, useful for looking up random rolls) -
Braytech org (Lots of overlapping features, but I really like their maps) - braytech.org/
Datto (Destiny Youtuber / 24:02 Raider who posts lots of useful/educational content, including exotic guides) -
Story Recap up through Shadowkeep (Spoilers Destiny 1 and D2, obviously) ]-
If you owned anything that is not currently free on steam on Battle.net, or have ever played D2 on another system, check out the PCMove and CrossSave pages on the Bungie net official site respectively to get all of your content and progression moved over to Steam.
Footnotes for people yelling at me in the comments:
-All of this is my opinion. Feel free to hold your own and disagree with mine.
-I generally enjoy grinding, looter shooters, FPS's, and weird sci-fi space magic. Halo, Borderlands, Warframe, and CoD Zombies are some of my most-played and favorite games.
-As far as I can tell, anything that is not strictly subjective in the above is factually correct. If I've missed something, feel free to point it out in the comments and I'll do my best to update this periodically.
-My links have all been removed? I don't know how to fix this, but I added in enough information about each one that you should be able to Google them. Let me know down below if you can see them or not.
TL:DR: It's good. Not perfect, but really good. And since it's free, you can get a really good sense of if this game is for you without paying for any of it. You can play almost any activity solo pretty easily except for a handful of endgame activities. If you're overwhelmed at first, just play through The Red War campaign (received from Amanda Holiday in the Hangar in the east section of The Tower social hub area, after you finish the first Cosmodrome mission) while you get your feet under you, or ask a veteran player for help.

when you look down you can see your legs

2017: Bought Destiny 2 & Season Pass for like $100. Did pretty much everything there was to do in the base game, Curse of Osiris and Warmind. Was sorely disappointed about the lack of content and amount of things to do. I had a good time with it, but I ultimately wrote the game off as a loss and walked away. Laughed at the thought of a year 2 season pass after getting burned so hard the first time.
2018: Pretty much forgot Destiny 2 existed.
2019: Continued forgetting Destiny 2 existed until October 1st. Decided to give New Light a try because screw it why not. I'm completely overwhelmed with how much the game has grown and the sheer amount of things to do. The game did a full 180 from what it was last time I played it. Within a couple days of New Light I went ahead and bought Forsaken and Shadowkeep because I felt like Bungie finally earned my money. Looking forward to reaching the light cap again, min/maxing stats and going for perfect weapon rolls.
I'm so glad Bungie chose Steam over Epic. If Destiny 2 had gone to Epic instead this review wouldn't exist and Bungie wouldn't have my money. So, well done there guys.

i like it but it needs better new player guidance

🦀🦀🦀ACTIVISION IS GONE🦀🦀🦀

Good decision moving to Steam, and no longer under Activision control

🦀🦀ACTIVISION IS GONE🦀🦀