Destiny 2 Beginner Guide
A first-week plan for Destiny 2: how the loop works, what to do in session one, and the mistakes that waste the most time.
What Destiny 2 actually is
Destiny 2 is Bungie's live looter shooter. The New Light path, seasonal content, and expansions share gunplay; the real systems are Power, the seasonal artifact, and not dismantling the wrong god roll. The loop you will repeat: Raise Power with playlist gear, learn a subclass build, then run the current dungeon/raid/nightfall when the fireteam is ready.
Your first session
Finish the New Light / current onboarding so the Director makes sense. Pick one subclass fantasy (a simple Solar or Stasis loop) and a kinetic/energy/power you like the feel of. Do not infuse every drop. Upgrade the guns you will actually shoot. LFD for strikes first. Raids wait until you can follow a callout without dying to the add wave.
Mistakes that end runs
Buying every eververse shader before you have a build. The dungeon is the fashion show later. Vaulting 500 'maybe' weapons. The vault is not infinite in spirit even when it is large. Going into a Master nightfall under Power with a randoms group that will not communicate. Ignoring the seasonal artifact mods. They are free stats for the season.
What 'good' looks like after a week
You should be able to explain Destiny 2's core loop in one sentence, recover from a bad session without rage-reinstalling, and know which mode or map is for learning versus for ego. If you are still lost, re-read the first-session steps instead of hopping to a random viral build.