How is the new player experience?

[Wandering Flare]

Aside from being completely overwhelming due to the amount of things added over the years and needing to buy DLCs to even experience all the game has to offer, how does the game fare for someone coming to it this late in its lifecycle? Is it active enough to not need to spend days looking for a fireteam? Does being late to the party mean the new player will be missing half the content that was only available through events/removed activities?

[Horn]

There is no new player experience. For its first hour the game pretends to teach the player the basics, and by that I mean it shows you tutorial text for one second and then hides it, or shows you a hint message that covers the entire interface and keeps bringing it back until you turn it off in frustration. Then the game just throws you out in the middle of nowhere and offers you to entertain yourself on your own. It of course directs you towards the most recent expansion and season, and by directs I mean forcibly launches you into the first mission when you launch the game for the second time.

The expansions can be launched in any order, but the context and story of the seasons that tied the expansions together has been removed from the game along with the seasons. And that's not to mention the content from the first two years that was almost completely removed from the game. So yeah, the new player is missing a lot.

[UmaMusume Enjoyer]

New player experience is terrible.
But for your other questions, some activities can be done through matchmaking which usually take very little time, the loading times are quite long however. You can also join Discord LFG server to find people for specific activities.

[Swag Messiah]

if you started this game anytime after 2019-2020ish time, the game is not meant for you. half of the older dlc is completely removed from the game so you have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue what anyone is talking about when they refer to characters like cayde, and you can't go back and play the expansions and missions from day one and then catch up to present day.

As someone who was genuinely excited about downloading destiny 2 and playing it from the day one content to lightfall (when i downloaded it) i found that i automatically got thrown into the planet that released with lightfall, fighting lightfall enemies, using lightfall weapons. Then i was hit with a screen around 30 minutes in asking me to buy their lightfall dlc like im some veteran player who just understands why my character is currently in a dlc planet and using weird hard light based weapons and super powers, despite being lvl 1.

Bungie made it clear through locking new players out of a chance to play the older content that they are not welcome. This game is really just for the people that have been non stop playing destiny 2 since release, as at this point, they are the only ones who know what the ♥♥♥♥ is even happening between all the lost missions, the thousands of different menu screens, the ♥♥♥♥ tutorial, the constant feeling of being lost, and the characters that are dead but still get referenced to new players by NPC's like the name drops mean anything to them because they weren't allowed to play the content from when they were still alive.

Anyway sorry for the ramble, but no, don't play the game. Unless you like aimlessly walking around both confused and frustrated, in which case, go ahead.

[Verios44]

I have played many games with rough new player experiences. Warframe, EVE Online come to mind, but there is something at least there , and those games have greatly improved their onboarding over the years.

Destiny 2 though? It might as well not exist. NPE here is the worst I have ever seen. No guiding on how mechanics work and more importantly, no introduction to the world. Your given a few fragments of the plot but thats it. Heck even now many of the important plot points are tied to seasons and thus get deleted when the seasons expire.

[trukr]

Wow, I had my doubts about this thread, after reading the responses with exaggerations and outright lies I am convinced, this is just another one of them circle things.

Edit: When people get called out on their BS, someone is bound to toss a clown at it, but hey, thanks for the Steam points. LOL

[[FoG] NL-Chaos]

Or you can join our clan **Our discord link**
https://discord.gg/aVH34n63m4 as we are casual but we do allot os stuff and always help out new and returning players to get the lay of the land :)
Also its more easy to get tips on what to do and we always look what kind of playstyle suits the person and then we recommand stuff like gear and all that.

[Bouncy Boner Forest]

after 7 k hrs i played with my cousin a few days ago. he was completely new and let me tell you HE WAS CONFUSED AF. but he enjoyed the game very much!

[ode2dave]

For the most I agree with Horn - the new player experience is no where near what it was at the beginning. And for that I feel sorry that new players can't experience the game world the way us old vets did, it was very memorable. You can experience some of what we did thru the replay mission terminal at the tower, but before you get to that I highly recommend Aztecross video he recently posted, it basically guides you through the first couple of hours as a new player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boa0B3cmYXg

Once you get in just try to play and enjoy the gunplay which is almost 2nd to none. Also there is a find party for nearly every event you might want to try - but I think its level locked, so you do have to grind a bit to unlock.

So grab a good headphone set, and we all hope you will enjoy your time in Destiny 2. See you star side guardian!

[Avalanche]

Originally posted by Horn:

There is no new player experience. For its first hour the game pretends to teach the player the basics, and by that I mean it shows you tutorial text for one second and then hides it, or shows you a hint message that covers the entire interface and keeps bringing it back until you turn it off in frustration. Then the game just throws you out in the middle of nowhere and offers you to entertain yourself on your own. It of course directs you towards the most recent expansion and season, and by directs I mean forcibly launches you into the first mission when you launch the game for the second time.

The expansions can be launched in any order, but the context and story of the seasons that tied the expansions together has been removed from the game along with the seasons. And that's not to mention the content from the first two years that was almost completely removed from the game. So yeah, the new player is missing a lot.

Sadly, the best part of the game was removed entirely....the campaigns......such awesome fun...gone and replaced with subpar seasonal crap.

[trukr]

Originally posted by ode2dave:

For the most I agree with Horn - the new player experience is no where near what it was at the beginning. And for that I feel sorry that new players can't experience the game world the way us old vets did, it was very memorable. You can experience some of what we did thru the replay mission terminal at the tower, but before you get to that I highly recommend Aztecross video he recently posted, it basically guides you through the first couple of hours as a new player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boa0B3cmYXg

Once you get in just try to play and enjoy the gunplay which is almost 2nd to none. Also there is a find party for nearly every event you might want to try - but I think its level locked, so you do have to grind a bit to unlock.

So grab a good headphone set, and we all hope you will enjoy your time in Destiny 2. See you star side guardian!

The people with the rose-tinted rearview mirrors are hilarious. Red war, here you are cruising along in your ship, a guardian that for some reason doesn't have a single weapon and gets dropped into a fight where you just wander through the place and find a rifle and pick it up.

You fight your way to a ship that is hovering at an elevation higher than the wall, that wall you stand on and look down at the top of tall buildings, see your ghost that just shut down and fell to the deck be kicked off the side, followed by you, yet at that height with your ghost not able to res you survive the fall just walking slower. Start the long boring trek out of the city to be eventually picked up and taken to the farm. You got taught very little and the campaign was a bore-fest, it took me a long time to finish it a bit at a time, it sucked with a few OK parts.

Edit: Somehow your ghost comes back and informs you it can't help you so stay alive, must not be needed after that fall. LOL

Gerneral consensus was the game was dying, great gun-play and bad story. Then came Forsaken, the "savior" of Destiny 2. The campaign had a big start and ending with a lot of meh between, it was all the other things that made Forsaken great, the stuff still in game.

New Light is exactly what people were asking for, it holds their hand and even explains what keys to press, your sub-class, super, grenade etc. It teaches far more than Red War did, I was on TITAN before I learned what a super was, great onboarding, right? Now you can skip the thing, that I agree with, no point going through that when you start a second or third character.

[Horn]

Originally posted by trukr:

New Light is exactly what people were asking for, it holds their hand and even explains what keys to press, your sub-class, super, grenade etc. It teaches far more than Red War did, I was on TITAN before I learned what a super was, great onboarding, right? Now you can skip the thing, that I agree with, no point going through that when you start a second or third character.

This " explaining" you're talking about makes sense for players who have been in the game for a long time and know everything. But when you show it to a real new player, they feel like it's something made by aliens, not by a real person. I've watched a lot of new players on twitch and my heart cringes into orbit every time they don't understand what the game is trying to tell them. It's impossible to watch.

You know what a normal person can't have a problem with, what is the best introduction to the game? A normal, classic, even if ridiculous, illogical and banal, but basic and dynamic story campaign. You can cope all you want but it's a fact and you can't dissuade anyone from it.

[Freakshow]

These guys played it real smart.

They kept throwing out $50-$70+ expansions, ended up with enough people who would keep coming back for the next one every time and well..

The farmed up cash cows. You'll never see them if you're new. They're running ahead through the map because it's all just a grind for this weapon or that armor. They give zero Fs about the gameplay, the graphics, just being chill.

It's WoW on steroids but you need to be "in the club" to have a clue what's going on.

And lemme guess, the game is still as poorly optimized as it was 4 or 5 years ago? Because it doesn't matter so long as you have your stock of cash cows.

I, personally, enjoyed the gameplay. The weapons system, the level designs, the options for your characters.

But I'm not stupid enough to pay $50-$70+ every time a new map comes out just so you can keep playing. If you don't, you're left behind, so you get stuck in a situation where it's either the ONLY game you're going to play or you're going to be missing SO MUCH STUFF it ain't even funny. And like it was mentioned before, half of it has been permanently removed "because it saves space" they said lol. So like mentioned, if you're new, you're SOL.

The best thing you can do with your money is this:
Spend $10 for Game Pass for PC. It gives you tons of games on Xbox for PC for free AND it gives you EA Play for free.

Then start doing your daily Microsoft rewards. By the time the next month rolls around, you'll have enough points to redeem an entire month with your points.. for absolutely free.

Want something worth dropping $80 at a time on? Look at DCS: World.

[Verios44]

Originally posted by Freakshow:

These guys played it real smart.

They kept throwing out $50-$70+ expansions, ended up with enough people who would keep coming back for the next one every time and well..

The farmed up cash cows. You'll never see them if you're new. They're running ahead through the map because it's all just a grind for this weapon or that armor. They give zero Fs about the gameplay, the graphics, just being chill.

It's WoW on steroids but you need to be "in the club" to have a clue what's going on.

And lemme guess, the game is still as poorly optimized as it was 4 or 5 years ago? Because it doesn't matter so long as you have your stock of cash cows.

Honestly as an experienced MMO player I find more joy from WoW, FFXIV, EVE, etc than I do from Destiny.

[Freakshow]

Originally posted by Verios44:

Originally posted by Freakshow:

These guys played it real smart.

They kept throwing out $50-$70+ expansions, ended up with enough people who would keep coming back for the next one every time and well..

The farmed up cash cows. You'll never see them if you're new. They're running ahead through the map because it's all just a grind for this weapon or that armor. They give zero Fs about the gameplay, the graphics, just being chill.

It's WoW on steroids but you need to be "in the club" to have a clue what's going on.

And lemme guess, the game is still as poorly optimized as it was 4 or 5 years ago? Because it doesn't matter so long as you have your stock of cash cows.

Honestly as an experienced MMO player I find more joy from WoW, FFXIV, EVE, etc than I do from Destiny.

Same. People will communicate with you in those games and help you out. I worded it badly, but that's what I meant about it being WoW on steroids. It's all the grind, but zero social time or friendship building or... working together. Destiny is every man for himself.

[Verios44]

Originally posted by Freakshow:

Originally posted by Verios44:

Honestly as an experienced MMO player I find more joy from WoW, FFXIV, EVE, etc than I do from Destiny.

Same. People will communicate with you in those games and help you out. I worded it badly, but that's what I meant about it being WoW on steroids. It's all the grind, but zero social time or friendship building or... working together. Destiny is every man for himself.

Yea I dont play EVE that much just due to time constraints, but its one of those games where communication is mandatory. Everything from trading, manufacturing, to pvp and full on alliance fights occur because of communication.

Half the raids in Destiny I have ran was barely any communication. Heck some were comm less. Also after running hundreds of them they got...boring.