Please excuse me if this has already been done. And please excuse the amount of pictures that are below. Hello *insert your name here* so you are new to Destiny? Or just simply have been so submersed into the game that you have had little time to take in the finer details? Don't worry I am going to help you understand the basics! We will start with something simple, not to worry friend! Let's start with Patrol missions shall we? As you know, or will soon know, after completing stages on a planet/moon you will unlock [u]PATROL MODE [/u]. This is just a free roam of the entire planet/moon with missions scattered around that will grant you EXP and rep with factions. Each of the icons will yield you a different type of mission to complete. Now I personally, go for the fast and easy missions, so I will tell you how to differentiate between the missions. Scouting Mission. Rep Reward: 10 Rep. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10712628_10152350065332623_5129297884600955400_o1_zps132e1db7.jpg.html This mission icon will give you a scouting mission. In order to complete it you will have to travel to a destination and just stand on the location that it tells you. That's it! Ghost Scan Mission. Rep Reward:10 Rep. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10633756_10152350065232623_3967521021016545193_o_zps1a46c2b8.jpg.html This mission icon is pretty much the exact same as the scouting mission. However, instead of standing on a location you will have to use your ghost to scan a certain area. Boss Slaying Mission: Rep Reward: 25 Rep! http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10661997_10152350064842623_4813715195007608743_o_zps5d05efad.jpg.html This mission icon is so far the only mission that will grant you 25 rep. If you pick up this mission you simply have to track down a creature and vanquish it. Item Pickup Mission: Rep Reward: 10 Rep http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10338475_10152350065162623_3268813348336819134_o_zps427d8f43.jpg.html This mission icon is a simple item pickup quest. It will request that you kill a certain enemy, that enemy and [u]only[/u] that enemy will drop required items to complete the mission. Kill ANYTHING Mission: Rep Reward: 10 Rep http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10644593_10152350065087623_406265645348765355_o_zpse762b2d1.jpg.html This mission icon is [b]obviously[/b] the best, and easiest. You simply have to kill ANYTHING and you will complete the mission. Hands down my preferred icon to seek. Public Event Icon: Rewards: I will let this one be a surprise. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/1962247_10152350065037623_6158050140463211032_o_zps8da54d6a.jpg.html If you see this Icon, I suggest making a run to it. If you complete the event in the time it allows you, you will be granted several rewards. Including an item in your mail! Sadly, only the first completion of everyday will grant you an item in the mail. However, each completion will still give you some decent rewards for taking a couple of minutes to finish an event off. If you run out of Patrol missions, or simply don't enjoy any missions that you see... simply go to another area of the map and new missions will spawn. Next, we will go over everyone's favorite part of every game! You probably guessed it by now! [u]Gathering Materials[/u]! You will need these materials later in the game in order to level up your gear! Each piece of gear takes a different item. (You could get lucky and only need one type of item, but don't get your hopes up). We will be going in order of game play to help simplify this learning experience. All of these materials have set spawn locations, so if you find one remember where it spawned and just check the spot whenever you remember to! Each material can also be found in chests on whatever location you are on! First we have Spinmetal which can be found on Earth. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/1956815_10152350064432623_6944388567704572586_o_zpse2f8e207.jpg.html Next, we have good ole Helium Coil, which can be found on the Moon. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10710494_10152350064482623_7051879174877649336_o_zps2393dcfa.jpg.html Spirit Bloom can be found on Venus. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10608319_10152350064812623_3805837609590014469_o1_zps1b98490f.jpg.html Last but not least, we have Relic Iron that can be found on Mars. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10733757_10152350064377623_6587082554538920004_o_zps90cda10a.jpg.html There are also items that you can acquire from pure luck, completing difficult daily missions, or from legendary/exotics. If you dismantle legendary/exotic items, you will get Ascendent shards/energy. Armor will grant shards. Weapons will grant energy. You will use these to level up your guns and armor so try to obtain as much as you can because these are RARE! While we are at it, throughout game play you will pick up several items that you can sell to the Cryptarch for 200 glimmer a piece (Max glimmer 25,000) Axiomatic Beads (found on Vex) House Banners (Found on Fallen) Network Keys (Found on Cabal) Silken Codex (Found on Hive) Then you have Consumable items. Some of which will grant you an increased Glimmer income from certain enemies. Blue Polyphage (Increased Glimmer from Vex) Ether Seeds (Increased Glimmer from Fallen) Resupply Codes (Increased Glimmer from Cabal) Black Wax Idol (Increased Glimmer from Hive) You can buy the following items from your friendly gun merchant in the tower. Primary Ammo Synthesis (Grants you FULL ammo in primary weapon) Special Ammo Synthesis (Grants you FULL ammo in special weapon) Heavy Ammo Synthesis (Grants you FULL ammo in heavy weapon) You can only use ONE Ammo Synthesis per five minutes. All three are on the same timer so use them wisely. It's okay if at this point you wish to take a break. I can 5 minutes, go ahead get a drink it's okay. Oh, welcome back! I didn't see you sorry, now where were we? Oh yes, we were on elemental damage and enemy shields! There are Three different elemental damages as of right now,. Four, if you count Kinetic, which is the default damage if your gun doesn't have an Elemental bonus. It's wise to have at least one of each type of element. Arc damage (Icon top left corner) Arc damage will remove Blue shields! http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10682363_10152350064947623_5202867469161542816_o_zps1dcb2296.jpg.html Void Damage (Icon top left corner) Void damage will remove Purple shields! http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/Voidshield_zps84affe20.jpg.html Solar damage (Icon top left corner) Solar damage will remove Orange shields! http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Harlan_2006/media/10682337_10152350064892623_7577941602555568563_o_zps02c7a64b.jpg.html Almost done, then you will be ready to go out and defeat the Darkness! I will just finish up now! There are several currencies in this game, but we are only going to go over two of them. Both of the below currencies can be found several ways Strange Coins, you will use these to buy exotics from Xur who ONLY spawns at the tower (location changes each week) at 9AM Friday, and will stay until 9AM Sunday. You collect these from doing the Weekly strike. The higher the difficulty the more you get. You can also get them from decoding engrams, chests, completing missions, and PVP. Motes of Light can be used to buy "Vanity" items from a vendor found in the tower. Motes can be found by decoding engrams, completing missions, PVP, and after you reach level 20 instead of gaining EXP to level up you will gain EXP towards of mote of light. Your progression to the mote can be found by moving your courser over your current level. That's it! Your lesson is now over, please come back for the next lesson! I look forward to seeing you in class again *insert your name here* you were a great student. Oh. one last thing before you go... I know I know, you want to be out and use your new found wisdom for defeating the Darkness... but this will be quick! Never be afraid of asking other guardians for help, or to offer your help to them. This Darkness is to great for one Guardian to take on by themselves. (Send party invites, ask to join their game or for them to join yours, make friends)