One of the first and easiest things to do in Destiny: The Taken King is to join up with a faction. If you’re used to vanilla Destiny and haven’t been paying close attention to the news, you might remember factions requiring guardians to wear a faction class item that transferred Crucible and Vanguard progress into faction progress.
Now, in Destiny: The Taken King choosing a faction no longer means losing out on Vanguard and Crucible progress. The three categories level up simultaneously which means that you should join a faction as soon as possible before doing anything that would gain your guardian experience. Plus, there are new faction specific-quest to look forward to completing.
While you’re not locked into your faction choice for life, you can only select a new faction once per week. So, take some time to consider what faction you want to level up before you commit and are locked in for 7 days.
If you’re brand new to Destiny: The Taken King, then you don’t need to worry about this one. Just skip right along to our next tip. But if you were a Destiny year one player then there’s a good chance you’ve still got some leftover upgrade materials in your possession.
You may have noticed that in the Destiny 2.0 Patch, sapphire wire, hadronic essences, and plasteel plating, were removed from the game as armor upgrade materials. They have been replaced with a more unified system which is now called armor materials. Luckily, you don’t need to throw out all of your old materials before you start to acquire the new ones. If you head over to the Vanguard Quartermaster Ronii 55-30, you can exchange all of your old and outdated materials for new and useful ones.
If you pre-ordered a collector’s edition of Destiny: The Taken King, whether physical or digital, then you should have access to some bonuses. If you completed the year one requirements for the founder’s fortune pack then you should have access to that. And also, you should have access to the year one emblem if you completed the moments of triumph.
Basically, depending on a wide variance of circumstances, there’s a good chance that you might have some goodies waiting for you at the tower. Before proceeding into a mission, you should probably check out your new items and bonuses because they may help you along the way. If you have the special bonus exotic class item , then you should definitely equip that as it will give you increased level gain for both your guardian and your new subclass.
While it may be hard to do at an emotional level, in terms of practicality, you’re going to want to get ready to take off your prized legendary armor in exchange for some tasteful green and blue level pieces. That’s right. Destiny: The Taken King rare and uncommon items will quickly overpower and outrank year one legendary and exotic items. You need to start over from the bottom and then build yourself back up again.
So, don’t just delete the green and blue gear you receive along your quests as you might have before Destiny: The Taken King because there’s a good chance that it’s going to be better than what you currently have equipped.
Another way to jump start your light level is with some test weapons. If you head over to the Gunsmith, his test weapons for the week should provide you with an attack value of 200 each, which should definitely be better than anything you have equipped coming in from year one.
Also, while some guardians may have realized this last week, if you’re new to the game or just haven’t done this yet, you’ll want to head over to the Speaker and get yourself a ghost and equip it as soon as you can. Ghosts are now a part of your light level so it is important to remember to equip yours with the shell that provides the highest defense and light.
One of the first questions that many guardians will be asking as soon as they start up Destiny: The Taken King is, “How do I unlock my new subclass?” In the September 14 Bungie Weekly Update, this question was answered but in case you didn’t see it, as could quite possibly be the case, we’re happy to remind you:
To start the first Taken King mission, The Coming War, just head over to Mars and it should be highlighted on your map, waiting for you to start the battle against Oryx and The Taken. After completion, check your quests and visit the tower as a new quest for your subclass will now be open. It’s a good idea to complete your subclass mission before proceeding to the rest of the Destiny: The Taken King content so that you can both try out and level up the new subclass along the way.
To experience all of the end-game content in Destiny: The Taken King you will need to increase your light level, as we mentioned, as well as your guardian’s level. In fact, in order to equip the gear that will help you to maximize your light level, you first need to get to level 40 which is the requirement for equipping the new and improved Destiny: The Taken King gear.
It’s all a matter of grinding. If you have items that grant experience saved up from year one, now would be a good time to use them. If you haven’t noticed yet, all vanguard marks and legendary marks of year one players have now been converted into commendations. These are packages in your inventory that will give your guardian both reputation and experience. Be sure that your faction is selected before using these.
After that, you grind. To get experience, it’s always a great idea to complete bounties. If you prefer PvP over PvE then the crucible is a good place to gain experience. But guardians that prefer PvE should note that all of the new Destiny: The Taken King missions provide experience bonuses for your guardian as well. Ideally, you should complete all of the PvE and PvP bounties, play through the Taken King content, and then cool off in the crucible. But feel free to mix and match depending on preferences and how much time you have available.
In the previous tip, we mentioned that vanguard marks and crucible marks are gone. Well, they’ve been replaced by legendary marks. But it’s not just a simple combination and swap of names deal. The mechanics behind acquiring these marks are now different as well. You’ll first need to level up your guardian before you are eligible to unlock legendary marks so don’t start this tip before you finish out our advice from the last one. But once you’re level 40 and ready to start earning legendary marks, the Destiny Wiki lists all of the ways that we can obtain them:
It’s important to start focusing on collecting these legendary marks because they are the currency you will use not only to buy new weapons and armor, but also to upgrade those items. So even if you’re not done with the Destiny: The Taken King content before you hit level 40, you might want to switch focus for a while and earn some legendary marks before you go back and finish.
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