Destiny 2 Returning Player Guide – Let’s Catch You Back Up

destiny 2, returning players guide, shadowkeep

There are many, many launch day Destiny 2 players that were charmed by the game’s improved storytelling and characters, and the increased legendary drops. However, in the weeks and months that followed, the hollowness of Destiny 2 showed itself and lots of players bailed. If that’s you, and the recent release of New Light & Shadowkeep has you back to give it another go, we’re here with a Destiny 2 returning player guide to get you caught up.

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In this returning player guide we’re going to go over a few things. First, a little catch-up on what happened over the last year from a gameplay perspective.

Then we’ll focus on what content is a high priority for you to focus on to catch up on important gear. Then finally we’ll wrap up with how to get you up and over 900 power level so you can be ready to go for Shadowkeep’s end game activities. Let’s begin.

Returning Player Guide – Destiny 2

How Has Destiny 2 Improved & Changed?

destiny 2, returning player guide

Destiny 2 prior to Forsaken was in a rough spot as you probably know. Guardians felt weak, and the endgame was extremely thin with very few things worth grinding for.

PvE was a mess and Trials of the Nine, the pinnacle Crucible activity, was so bad Bungie straight canceled it and it still has yet to return.

Curse of Osiris was pretty bad and while Warmind wasn’t much better, it did start to lay the groundwork for the major improvements that would come prior to and with the Forsaken expansion last year.

More exotic quests that rewarded powerful guns were added, Guardian strength was dialed up (so much so that Shadowkeep actually toned us all down a little), random rolls and god roll chasing was put back in, and raids started to include items that you would actually want to grind for such as One Thousand Voices and Anarchy.

The Annual Pass content (Black Armory, Season of the Drifter, Season of Opulence) doubled down on the work that Forsaken put in. They all added more exotic quests and more (fun) repeatable battle content with powerful weapons worth grinding for such as the Forges and the Menagerie.

Crucible… isn’t much different to be honest and Bungie pretty much admitted that they need to give PvP more love.

The PvE changes though do spill over to Crucible and it’s at least better than vanilla Destiny 2 Crucible, which isn’t saying much to be sure, but yeah.

Gambit was added with Forsaken and it’s a very fun PvEvP game mode where you work together with a group of three other players to kill enemies quickly to collect and bank motes, and then burn down a boss enemy once you’ve banked enough.

All the while players from another team doing the same thing can disrupt you.

While it has its own set of balancing issues, Gambit is still a pretty solid game mode that lots of people enjoy. You can learn a bit more about playing Gambit the right way here.

This is the state that Destiny 2 arrived in for the Shadowkeep expansion and year 3. The fans that stuck with the game since vanilla, or returned when Forsaken dropped, have generally been satisfied with the improvements Bungie has made, hence the positivity surrounding Shadowkeep’s release.

Story-wise, a lot has happened since the Red War.

If you want the ultimate Destiny 2 story break down, check out this massive video from YouTuber My Name is Byf. Don’t worry, there are timestamps in the description.


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Author
Ed McGlone
Ed McGlone was with Twinfinite from 2014 to 2022. Playing games since 1991, Ed loved writing about RPGs, MMOs, sports games and shooters.