Since becoming free-to-play in 2019, Bungie has made many changes to what is free and what requires a real-world investment in Destiny 2. If you want to know exactly what’s free and what’s paid for, we’ve created this nifty guide. Help you navigate all the magic of the universe.
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Free to Play Activities in Destiny 2
First, let’s cover everything you can do in Destiny 2 without paying. These are all playlist activities, limited-time events, and stories that you can participate in without encountering a Destiny paywall.
1. New Light Questline and Guardian Rank Onboarding
As a newbie, this content is the first thing I have to tackle before doing anything else. This short storyline introduces you to the world of Destiny, teaches you the basics of looting and shooting, and explains what has happened so far, including special cutscenes to keep you up to speed with Lightfall. After that, as part of Bungie’s new onboarding him mechanic, you’ll be given a series of goals via the Journey tab, telling you what to do next. Thankfully, it introduces you to free content long before you find a reason to have to buy something.
2. Vanguard Strike Playlist
As a free player, most strikes are not accessible from the world map, but they all appear in the Vanguard Strikes playlist (regardless of whether you own the content they were based on). These activities are short stories that play out in Destiny’s history and are one of the best ways to complete bounties and earn easy loot.
3. Most Crucible Playlist
If you want to go head-to-head with your fellow Guardians, you’re lucky to have nearly all Crucible content available. A Competitive 3v3 playlist, his 6v6 queue in Team Quickplay, and rotating playlists like Rumble’s free-for-all mode allow all players to participate and play. You can also play his week-long event, Iron Banner, which happens several times each season, and you can always earn exclusive loot. One important detail is that he must first verify his account on Bungie.net if he wants to join the competitive playlist. This requires you to register your mobile phone number and associate it with your account.
4. Gambit
Gambit is Destiny’s Pve/PvP hybrid mode that pits teams of four against each other to accumulate motes and summon and defeat bosses. The team that defeats the boss first wins, but the real twist is that players can invade each other’s worlds and kill opposing teams to slow progress. This mode can be played solo (freelance mode), with a crew, or in private matches, but it’s all the same mode and has only a handful of maps. Still, this is one of his few areas where free-to-play players have everything available.
5. Seasonal events
Each season of Destiny has one seasonal event: Guardian Games in spring, Solstice of Heroes in summer, Lost Festival in fall, and Dawning in winter. Each of these events will include tons of exclusive loot and at least one playable activity. As a free-to-play player, you are free to participate in any or all of these events. However, each has its own paid version, as well as numerous cosmetics available for purchase, so your mileage may vary if you’re committed to playing for free.
6. Prophecy Dungeon
The coolest 3-player activity in Destiny 2, the dungeon, is mostly unavailable to free-to-play players, but the Prophecy Dungeon is open to everyone and arguably the best dungeon. This raid-like activity takes place in Realms of the Nine and is best played with two friends. Unfortunately, matchmaking isn’t available for this activity, but the loot is so good it’s worth finding someone to play with.
7. Vault of Glass and King’s Fall Raid
Like dungeons, raids are some of the best and most difficult content in Destiny, and most of them are paid. However, you can find two remastered dungeons of his that originated in Destiny 1 and play for free in Destiny 2. His Vault of Glass, the first ever Destiny raid to feature menacing Vex foes, and King’s Fall, which hunts down the Taken King Oryx, are both 6. – Any player activity that requires a fireteam. Like dungeons, you can’t rely on matchmaking.
8. PATROLS, PUBLIC EVENTS, AND LOST SECTORS
As a free player, you can explore all destinations and participate in various activities that those locations offer, such as patrols, public events, and Lost Sectors. Patrols are bite-sized bounties to kill or scan for something, while public events occur periodically as you explore each location and usually must be completed in groups. Sectors are hidden areas in each world that act as mini-dungeons, with bosses and chests to loot at the end. The Dreaming City, Moon, and Europa are all unlocked by earning enough XP by completing various activities.
9. Dares of Eternity
This 6-player matchmaking activity puts you in a very silly game show starring Xur and a magical horse, with tons of loot dropping at the end of the activity. It’s free for all players, and he’s definitely one of the most fun and rewarding things to do in Destiny.
10. The first campaign mission of the Witch Queen and Lightfall campaigns
As a way to encourage players to purchase expansions, we will give free players a taste of each campaign through the campaign’s first mission, which is available for free.
Destiny 2 Paid Activities
While there’s a lot you can do as a free player in Destiny 2, you’ll regularly encounter paywalls that require you to purchase expansions or DLC before you can play. Here’s what you need to open your notebook:
1. Campaign Mission
This is obvious, as you cannot play any of Destiny’s main campaign missions (other than The Witch Queen and the first mission of Lightfall) before purchasing the expansion. This includes all campaigns currently available in Destiny 2, including Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, The Witch Queen, Lightfall, and more.
2. Seasonal activities and story missions (with exceptions)
Each season of Destiny 2 introduces new miniature stories and seasonal events, mostly exclusive to Season Pass owners. A new season also comes with new weapons, armor, and cosmetics, which are often pinned behind the season’s paywall.
3. Nightfall Strike
The most challenging version of Vanguard Strike called Nightfall Strike is gated behind the latest expansion (in this case Lightfall). These Strikes are some of the most rewarding (and rewarding) PvE activities, but they don’t offer additional content other than harder versions of existing missions in the Vanguard Strikes playlist.
4. Dungeons
Most dungeons are not available to free players, including The Shattered Throne, Pit of Heresy, Grasp of Avarice, Duality, and Spire of the Watcher. Most of these are locked behind released expansions (e.g. Spire of the Watcher requires The Witch Queen expansion), but his Ikora selling her Dungeon Key for that particular activity Some can be purchased from
5. Raid
Like dungeons, raids are mostly locked behind the expansions that premiered them, and they include The Last Wish, Garden of Salvation, Deep Stone Crypt, Vows of Discipleship, and Nightmare Root. These raids are great, but currently there’s no way to buy them on their own like some dungeons do, and you’ll have to invest in expansions to play them.
6. Trials of Osiris
Trials of Osiris is Destiny 2’s premier PvP mode, pitting players against each other in tournament-style competition. Unfortunately, it was recently added to the list of activities locked behind Destiny 2’s paywall, requiring the latest expansion (Lightfall) to participate.
unlock free play
Beyond just the things to do, another important part of Destiny 2’s free-to-play model is the tools you can (or can’t) access. Here’s what you can collect and use in the free version:
1. All three classes
Whether you want to play a cunning hunter, a fearless titan, or a mysterious warlock, all three playable classes in Destiny 2 are available in all versions of the game.
2. All light subclasses
Lightweight subclasses make up three-fifths of the playstyles available in Destiny 2, and all nine of them are available as free players. This includes Solar, Void, and Arc subclasses for each of the three Guardian classes, though some must be unlocked by playing the game. Completing the introductory new Light mission will give you access to the questline to do just that.
3. Most weapons and armor
Some weapons and armor that are only available in certain paid activities are not available to free players, but the majority of them are in the free-to-play loot pool, but some need a little more work. than a paying customer would need.
4. deformation
Players can make microtransactions to speed up the process, but the ability to trade one armor appearance for another already earned looks is not available on Ada-1 when attempting to complete her bounty. Anyone can use it.
5. Partial Access to Season Pass
Like most live service games, Destiny 2 has a season pass with two progression tracks, a free track and a paid track. Naturally, the paid version grants better loot, more frequent drops, and access to the best early in the season, but most of the important loot (such as seasonal exotics) With enough elbow grease you can get through the free progression tracks.
6. Clan Membership
Destiny veterans know that the Friends Game is the End Game. Clans that can be grouped with fellow Guardians for special loot and buffed via Seasonal Buffs in the Clan Banner can be freely created and joined by any of her Destiny players.
Paid unlock
1. The 6 Dark Subclasses
Six recently introduced Darkness subclasses are locked behind the expansion that debuted them. Three Stasis subclasses with Beyond Light and Three Strand subclasses with Lightfall. If you want to access the powerful abilities these subclasses offer, you’ll need to own their respective extensions.
2. Full season pass
If you want access to the better of the two Season Pass progression tracks, you’ll need to pony up Glimmer in the real world.
3. ADDITIONAL ITEMS GRANTED BY PURCHASE
Some items are optionally gifted once the player completes the purchase. For example, the legendary ship that Shaw Han has in stock will only be given to players who purchase Lightfall. Beyond that, there are plenty of loot drops and Eververse cosmetics that are only available to those who make certain purchases or microtransactions.
“If I want to dig deeper, what should I buy first?”
All this depends on what kind of activity you are interested in. If you and two of your companions really enjoy PvE content, consider purchasing access to standalone dungeons that are cheaper than other content. , you must purchase the latest expansion (Lightfall) to participate. Generally speaking, though, buying the latest expansion to access the current season’s activities and comply with changes to the meta such as the recent addition of Strand subclasses is almost always the best idea.
The silver currency she sells only offers non-essential items and things you can earn for free, like tokens to transmog your gear, so it’s best to stay away from Eververse at first. Start by focusing on the main expansion and replayable content and see if it continues to intrigue you from there.
For more information, check out our latest Destiny 2 review of the Lightfall expansion. If you’re ready to dive into paid content, check out our guide to the Route of Nightmare Raid.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and his Click here for game distribution.
