Destiny 2 goes Free-to-Play! (New Light + Shadowkeep)

[Protocawl 2,971]

Destiny 2, the now officially MMO Action-RPG FPS, enters it's 3rd year of existence with a massive update and new expansion that make the game a lot more accessible to newcomers and all players without the expansions. The update & expansion go live tonight, October 1st at 17:00/5pm UTC. That's when the Destiny 2 base game will become Destiny 2: New Light and become available to download for free on the PS Store.

"Dive right into the world of Destiny to experience responsive first-person shooter combat, to explore rich worlds with sweeping vistas and stunning visuals, and to earn an arsenal of powerful weapons and armor. Bring your personalized Guardian into a large variety of activities and modes - from cooperative quests, competitive modes, challenging endgame activities, and more.

Destiny 2: New Light launches October 1, 2019 and is free to play on every supported platform."

(All current Destiny 2 players will be automatically converted to New Light and will maintain all of their prior purchases and entitlements.)

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP0002-CUSA06172_00-DESTINYTHEGAME02

 

 

UPDATE:

All you need to know about New Light specifically, taken from the patch notes:

New Light

General

• The Power level of all players' current gear will be set to 750 at launch. All new characters will start at Power 750
• Black Armory Forges, Gambit, Gambit Prime, the Reckoning, and the Menagerie are available for all players
• Leviathan raid lairs Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars are available for all players
• All players can enter Free Roam on all destinations, including the Moon (once the destination has been unlocked)
• Many previously quests can now be picked up on various vendors

New Guardians

• New characters are no longer required to play through Red War, Curse of Osiris or Warmind (a.k.a. Classic) campaigns before accessing various activities and quests
• New characters can acquire the classic campaign pursuits from Amanda Holliday
  • • If the player acquires a campaign pursuit for a mission on a planet they have not yet unlocked by earning XP, that planet will become unlocked
      • • For example, if the player has only unlocked the EDZ and Titan, and then they acquire the Curse of Osiris campaign pursuit, the Mercury destination will become unlocked
• New characters have immediate access to all playlist activities (but they still might not meet the Power requirements for higher tiers of Player Elected Difficulty, or they might need a special item like a Mote Synthesizer to play the Reckoning)
• New character will be granted the New Light main quest. This quest will lead them through most ritual activities, Year 1 seasonal content, and Year 1 destinations
• For new characters, Zavala, Shaxx, and Drifter will initially have simplified inventories. Players must complete a short intro quest for Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit to unlock the full inventory of bounties and pursuits on these vendors

 

 

In the words of Luke Smith, D2 game director:

"One of the essential parts of New Light is crushing the barriers between friends. Today, one of those barriers is the Power level. 

 

To players, Power level can mean “we have different goals, so we don't play together.” A new character starting at 10 Power would naturally feel that they had to go play all this other content—and in many, many hours you can play with the friend who recommended the game to you. 

 

That does not sound very sweet. It’s like telling someone to play a MOBA and then saying “we’ll play with you in 100 hours when you’ve learned to last hit.” (This is what my friends said to me. Do I have bad friends? As I’m writing this, I’m starting to wonder.)

 

That’s not what we want in New Light. 

 

We want to get new players and veterans colliding quickly. After Black Armory, we made a deliberate choice to try to do this with each Season. Both Season of the Drifter and Season of Opulence had bounties to boost up players’ Power levels. With New Light and Shadowkeep being bigger moments of collision, we’re continuing that philosophy, but optimizing the mechanics to fit the moment. 

 

We’re setting the Power this Fall to 750 for both returning and new players. We want you to all be together when Shadowkeep opens. Here’s what this means: 

• Every single item in the game is being raised to a Power floor of 750 when Shadowkeep and New Light launch. Every item in your inventory (and vault) is going to automatically jump to 750. 
• It's like a free global burst of infusion for all players."

 

Q: What Forsaken and Forsaken Annual Pass content will be included in New Light?

A: Forsaken content available in Destiny 2: New Light includes:

• Free roam on all destinations
• Strikes playlists
• Crucible playlists
• Gambit and Gambit Prime playlists
• Select Annual Pass content

 

Q: What Forsaken and Forsaken Annual Pass content will NOT be included in New Light?

A: Forsaken content available only with purchase includes:

• The Forsaken campaign
• Year 2 raids and dungeons
• Exotic quests

 

In addition:

• All non-Exotic weapons & armour will become obtainable for everyone. (As opposed to some being available only to expansion owners.)
• Armour 2.0 aka armour system reworked. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/467144685?t=11m

More often than not players had to choose between looks and practicality of their characters' armour in Destiny 2, but could rarely get both. Not anymore. Armour perks will be fully customizable and looks-wise there will be a lot more flexibility as well. (Next point is a huge part of this)

• Eververse (in-game microtransaction store) changes.
  • All Eververse armor (new and armor you’ve already acquired!) is being converted into Universal Ornaments
  • Universal Ornaments can be attached to any newly acquired Legendary armor
  • Bright Dust is going to come from doing bounties, not dismantling things you spent money on
  • Eververse items can now be pulled from your Collections with Glimmer/Legendary Shards instead of Bright Dust

   

• PvP modes and matchmaking overhauled.  https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/48072

 

 

More media, info & details on the update:

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wVt0cnDTg&list=PLZUnIN1M4R_9yoPSXzV6x7d70fpy1l_eK&index=4&t=0s

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now is the best time to jump in to this game!

Edited October 2, 2019 by Protocawl
Added info straight from update patch

[Protocawl 2,971]

Updated the OP with some info taken right from the update patch notes.

Full patch notes with everything that has changed & the reasoning behind the changes: https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/48198

 

Now that I've actually loaded up the game after the update & personally checked out most of what has changed in the game, I can say it's quite incredible! Most of what is available to everyone for free was earlier behind a paywall. There's so damn much to do in the game now for everyone and one doesn't need either of the purchasable expansions to fully enjoy the game, but the expansions will add some great content still if anyone wants some extra. The whole system of how the game works is just so much more customer/player-friendly now!

I still don't have the 2 paid expansions (Forsaken and Shadowkeep), but the game has certainly risen from the ashes for me. Before the update the game had basically become dead to me. I was ready to quit the game for good if the update hadn't delivered fundamental changes... but it did bring the necessary changes and then some and my belief in Bungie has been largely renewed. If they can do all the right things in the 3rd year of Destiny 2, then my faith in them will be fully restored. No Activision has really turned out to be an enormous improvement! (https://www.domesticbatterygaming.com/forums/topic/18345-activision-bails-bungie-gets-full-control-over-destiny/)''

 

Veterans who have stopped playing and all newcomers who are interested should give this game another chance now, I seriously recommend it.

(A little bonus reminder: it is mostly co-op, greatly rewarding shooter, with probably the best FPS shooting mechanics ever, with some awesome PvE+PvP combo modes in the mix and an optional PvP aspect as well. Not to mention a proper Clan system and PRIVATE MATCHES available in both the PvP and PvE+PvP modes!!!)

[Smurf 947]

I downloaded it last night but haven't played it as of yet, I'm surprised my two characters that I created a long while back still exists. I will do my research on the game itself before playing so that I don't get lost or overwhelmed with whatever is going on in the game lack of lack of knowledge.

[Protocawl 2,971]

15 hours ago, Smurf said:

I downloaded it last night but haven't played it as of yet, I'm surprised my two characters that I created a long while back still exists. I will do my research on the game itself before playing so that I don't get lost or overwhelmed with whatever is going on in the game lack of lack of knowledge.

I think if there's not too much progress done with the characters you might be better off starting from scratch. The new introduction and everything should point you in all the right directions. The only "progress" worth saving in this game are actually the items and collectibles, including armour and weapons. Character levels as such are gone, all new characters will start at the invisible max lvl of 50 anyway and Power level of 750, which is the lowest possible Power level for everyone from now on. If you do have any items you'd like to keep, put them all in the vault and then make the new character before you delete the old one(s). That way you won't lose anything.

I'll see if I can find the time to put together a nice little guide for new players this week. In the meanwhile, feel free to ask me anything about the game, I should know the answers to most things that don't involve the raids or Reckoning or Menagerie game modes.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Protocawl

[p33t0 26]

@Protocawl Is there a crew clan? I've just transferred my xbox characters over to ps4

[DeaD_GooN 1,312]

I fired this thing up last night. Can't remember the last time I played. I remember getting the platinum trophy for it really early on, and I remember playing Gambit when it was added. I kinda fell off sometime after that. 

Only played a few minutes last night, and felt completely lost. If I get into it some more, I'll probably figure things out. 

[Protocawl 2,971]

4 hours ago, p33t0 said:

@Protocawl Is there a crew clan? I've just transferred my xbox characters over to ps4

I'll be making one soon, just maybe not called XDBX since I have some outside of crew friends joining as well. (mainly ex-XDBX to be honest, but still)

[Smurf 947]

In the upgrade module for the guns there is:

Enchantment Core

Legendary Shards

Phaseglass Needle 

Glimmer

Mod Components

Which one is best, or is it just different payment methods to get one result when upgrading weapons?

[Protocawl 2,971]

11 hours ago, Smurf said:

In the upgrade module for the guns there is:

Enchantment Core

Legendary Shards

Phaseglass Needle 

Glimmer

Mod Components

Which one is best, or is it just different payment methods to get one result when upgrading weapons?

The upgrade module is used for infusing gear to get them to a higher power level. The process involves sacrificing a piece of gear of a higher power level than the one you wish to upgrade and will consume both the higher level item and the upgrade module. If you're talking about buying them from the gunsmith then I don't recommend spending any resources on those things until you're at least 900+ overall power level. Not even then unless absolutely necessary. All of the resources you named on the list will be required to buy ONE module, so it's better to collect as many of those modules as you can from doing the gunsmith bounties for when you reach 900+ power level and will really want to infuse your favourite gear. Otherwise it would be a major waste of resources.

Basically, you don't have to have your favourite gear at maximum possible power level unless you play a lot of Gambit. You can just keep the higher power level drops in your inventory and if you don't like them, dismantle them once you get a higher power level replacement, and so on.

 

I'm still working on the basics guide for the game, should be done and posted later tonight or tomorrow.

[piotras 110]

Hi, just a heads-up that I'm playing more of this lately too. Got on the post-900 grind and enjoying the game so far.  

[Protocawl 2,971]

So... I'm still working on that guide, because it ended up being so much more work than I thought. Hopefully will get it finished by the end of the weekend.

In the meanwhile, the Festival of the Lost (H'ween event basically) is in it's 2nd week and it ends on the 19th, so still plenty of time to check that out. At the same time, it's currently Iron Banner week, so lots of really good loot from that Crucible mode obtainable right now as well.

[Protocawl 2,971]

Created a clan: https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2?groupid=4031058

@Smurf @p33t0 @DeaD_GooN @AlCohonez + anyone else who's interested. Either request to join through the Bungie site or let me know in this thread and I'll send a clan invite.

[DeaD_GooN 1,312]

I sent my request to join. 

Played it quite a bit a couple days ago, and had a blast. Though, I'm still a bit lost with all the new stuff. I'll figure it out though. 

[Protocawl 2,971]

16 hours ago, DeaD_GooN said:

I sent my request to join. 

Played it quite a bit a couple days ago, and had a blast. Though, I'm still a bit lost with all the new stuff. I'll figure it out though. 

Accepted, you're in.

Yeah, it's quite difficult to get to grips with all the things in the game without some proper help/guide, which is why I'm really trying to get a very thorough basics guide out ASAP still.

[DeaD_GooN 1,312]

9 hours ago, Protocawl said:

Accepted, you're in.

Yeah, it's quite difficult to get to grips with all the things in the game without some proper help/guide, which is why I'm really trying to get a very thorough basics guide out ASAP still.

I understand most of the basics, aside from some of the newly added mechanics. I've noticed that armor has been revamped. I think what I find most overwhelming is that there is so much new stuff added since I quit playing regularly. 

I haven't bought Shadowkeep yet, but I assume I probably will. 

[Smurf 947]

I have simple problems like just starting a bounty, cant find where to start it other than seeing it under quest or selecting it at the Tower.

[DeaD_GooN 1,312]

9 hours ago, Smurf said:

I have simple problems like just starting a bounty, cant find where to start it other than seeing it under quest or selecting it at the Tower.

IIRC, once you aquire them from various sources (gunsmith, shaxx, etc...). They are active until they are completed or expire. 

[Smurf 947]

Yup but how do you start it?

[Protocawl 2,971]

6 hours ago, Smurf said:

Yup but how do you start it?

If we get to play together in the coming days, I'll show you. Struggling to understand exactly which bounty/bounties you are referring to at the moment. There's a few different types, but most are as easy to deal with as Goon said.

[Protocawl 2,971]

On 11/19/2019 at 6:34 AM, DeaD_GooN said:

I understand most of the basics, aside from some of the newly added mechanics. I've noticed that armor has been revamped. I think what I find most overwhelming is that there is so much new stuff added since I quit playing regularly. 

I haven't bought Shadowkeep yet, but I assume I probably will. 

All the new stuff is also kind of like (important) basics, though, so they'll be in the guide, too.

I'll be getting Shadowkeep as well for sure. Hoping for a slight sale around Black Friday, otherwise will just buy full price for the next season most likely.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Protocawl