This is for those who haven’t had a chance or opportunities to do the raid/weeklies as often as others due to a multitude of reasons. Level Your Character and Gear Up No brainer right? There are many reasons why you should. Here are a few: - Higher Defense Stats & More DPS o This means less dying and more killing (hopefully). - Higher chance people will accept you into their raid/strike party o I’ve often seen many people online in the forums saying “lvl. 24 looking for raid.” If you can get into one “Great!” But chances are against you and if you do get in your damage output would be significantly less than those who are, let’s say, 27-29. - Guns o It’s important that you enter the raid with weapons that are fully upgraded (especially if you’ve ran few to none).  Why? • Again, DPS or damage output is an important aspect of the raid, or any other part of the game for that matter.  What’s the best way to obtain Ascendant Energy and Shards? • There are many ways to obtain these materials: o Raid  As much as this sucks, it seems one of the most efficient and inefficient ways to obtain ascendant materials is the raid. Yes, a bit counterintuitive relative to our subject at hand but nevertheless it works when you don’t want it to. o Daily Events  Best way to farm dailies is having three characters and doing them on all characters. Preferrably @ lvl 28 but since this is a thread about attempting to level up your characters for the raid, if you are able to team up with a friend who is around that level, may he/she can carry you through. This is what I did for many of my friends when they were first starting their primary and alternate characters. o World/Public Events  Scouring the worlds in attempts to find an event. If your efforts are successful, you might receive the materials. o Farming Chests  It is no secret that the Earth’s chest/spinmetal farm is one of the most infamous farming areas than any other areas in the game (i.e. Rocketyards). Farming for chests is not a guarantee but you do receive your occasional Ascendant Materials and even GOD CHESTS. o And of course last but not least the most reliable but also most inefficient way is purchasing gear with Vanguard/Crucible marks and breaking them down.  How?  Vanguard Marks and be farmed in a multitude of ways • Strikes • Selling your material (i.e. Spinmetal, Relic Iron, and Helium Filaments) to your Quarter Master (Either Vangaurd or Crucible). • Of Course the crucible will get you crucible marks but I’d argue that selling mats, in certain circumstances, is just as efficient (if not more) as running the crucible.  My opinion to this regard, don’t spec into your factions and stick to Vanguard if you are primarily a PVE’er. Those who play crucible, the world is your oyster. • My Logic behind this: At first, compiling the aspects of vanguard and crucible into a faction seemed more efficient than having to focus on two different currencies until I hit an epiphany, “The only ways to receive crucible marks are playing the crucible or selling material items to the quarter master.” So with this new found knowledge I determined that, at least for me, it was in my best interest not to invest into the factions and concentrate only on vanguard. Please note, I took this route because I hardly every PVP. In addition, the gear and guns in the factions did not appeal to me. I know, for some it takes what seems like an eternity to progress through the game if we’re only playing by ourselves. However, Destiny players have displayed a large emphasis on networking with one another in order to run raids, strikes, weeklies, and bounties so put yourself out there. HELL! SEND ME AN ADD! My GT is the same as my SN here. (xbox 360) I always run random’s through the raid and nightfalls. Please elaborate if anyone else has anything to add or if I’ve missed something. I just felt like I should post this because I’ve played with quite a few players who asked many questions to this regard.