I'm a day one player, but far from a pro. More recently several of my friends have started fresh, and with TTK approaching there is a possibility more will join soon. I've decided to write down some of the tips for every new destiny player that I wished I'd learned sooner (and reference tools I wish I'd found sooner). As I got started, it made me wonder what others would put on this list. I posted this over on Reddit and I got a HUGE number of great suggestions from members of the community there. If you like reading about Destiny /r/DestinyTheGame is a great sub and one of my primary sources of Destiny news and information. Since I got so much input, I decided to take the time and write down all of these tips with some context on the "whys" and "hows". If you see anything I've missed, please leave a comment!
Part 1: Exploration
A big part of playing Destiny is exploring just how big Destiny is. After you've played long enough, you may start to begin to think you know every map forwards and backwards, but along the way there are a lot of useful tricks and resources that will make your navigation much easier.
1. Say it with your Chest
If you like finding Ghosts and Chests, there are websites that tell you which ones you are missing! ( here and here ) Some of the ghosts are very well hidden, so even if you are a purist these resources can help you narrow down the planets and missions you need to be on to find what you are missing.
2. The not so Silent Cartographer
Like any game of it's scale, its a little hard to remember names and directions in the wide worlds of Destiny. There is an in-level navigation icon which helps some, but you are sometimes directed to places by name it can be very useful to have I don't know... a map? Luckily, cool people on Reddit created maps with all area names and connections listed (why isn't this ingame Bungie!??). Check them out!
3. That's not a coincidence
One of the hallmark features of vanilla Destiny, the Public Event, is a fun way to team up with random Guardians and take on a challenge. There is sometimes a bounty for Public Events, and there is also a small reward for the first one you complete each day. If you like Public Events its important to know- they aren't random. In fact, you can always know when and where they will be with the Destiny Public Event Tracker. If you get familiar with the aforementioned maps the DPE tracker can actually let you plan out a route to hop from event to event, sometimes with almost no down time. Now if only Wolf Packs were so predictable.
4. Not all jumps are created equal
Each class has it's own basic kind of jumps to get used to, and the timing for using them effectively varies significantly from class to class. Pro use of jumps is it's own topic, but there are two very common knowledge gaps: - Blink is its own unique jump type and shares basically no behavior with the other jump types. It is as much an evasive maneuver as a jump type, and excels in PvP for its ability to cause misdirection. Using it effectively requires a lot of practice. - The Titan's "Lift" and Warlock's "Glide" jumps can be canceled in air by pressing the jump button again. Moreover, most skill upgrades for these jumps allow you to press the jump button again for another short burst, and again for a final cancel. This makes precision jumps with these jump types much easier, and can be essential in "jump centric puzzles" like those features in the Vault of Glass and the related House of Wolves story mission.
5. There is Sparrow riding, and then there is "Pro" Sparrow riding
Let's face it, you are going to spend a lot of time on your Sparrow. It pays to get to know it a little better, because good riding means getting back to the action faster (and in some cases even skipping some of the grind). Some Sparrow riding "pro" tips include the following: - It is possible to buy a faster Sparrow with Vanguard or Crucible marks. This Sparrow can be made even faster with an upgrade that you can purchase with Strange Coins from Xur. Legendary Sparrows also drop from some of the Raid content. Get rid of that beater you got when you started, and start riding some new hotness. - Many areas prevent you from summoning your Sparrow, but they don't prevent you from riding it. Get to know how to work your Sparrow around roadblocks, and you can more quickly navigate these areas in the comfort of your metal steed. - A little known fact is that you can emote while on your Sparrow. It's hard to imagine a practical use for this, but I'd love to see a group of 4 Sparrows in formation roar into an area, get some hand signals from their leader, and then proceed off to kick butt in the designated direction. - You may see some veteran riding a purple "trick" Sparrow, and whipping out all kinds of slick air tricks. Too bad for you, that was a bonus for the first season pass and is no longer available.
6. Do you hear that?
Chests and resource materials (Spinmetal, Relic Iron, etc) make a faint noise that is fairly distinct in the game. If you get accustomed to it, you can often hear them before you see them. Following the sound will net you a pleasant reward, and once you have an idea of where they tend to spawn the sound will become a draw to search nearby known spawn locations.
7. Patrolling under control
Patrol Missions have unique icons that tell you what kind of assignment you will get when you accept them. It's worth memorizing the icons, because certain missions are way easier than others. If you are shooting to complete missions fast you should go for "Kill" missions first, then "Item" missions. If both of these are gone in an area you can grab a "Scan" or "Survey" mission as you leave. You can alway ditch it if it isn't in the direction you want to go. I very rarely do "VIP" missions because they easily take the longest, and they seem fairly inconsistent in the distance you will need to travel to complete them. As usual, the cool folks on Reddit, particularly /u/irCuBiC and /u/Gozumaki have made an awesome picture to illustrate this.
There are more tips! Use the navigation arrows to check out the other pages!