So this game has been out for a while. But some people have only had this game from December. So far I see many players making the same mistakes that I use to make when the game first came out. This is for new players who aren't sure about some of Destiny's basic mechanics. Through observing players in the game and on the forums many players have trouble leveling up and obtaining effective weapons. Many players have logged plenty of hours but still have blue gear and can't break level 26. I think after playing an easy campaign and not having to purchase anything most players are used to missions or getting the random drop to better stuff. You could be waiting forever for RNG to give you all legendary gear that can get you to level 31. So this is assuming you did the easy main story campaign and are at minimum level 20. [b]So here are some simple steps to get gear.[/b] Build Vanguard rep and marks. Why vanguard you ask? It is the quickest and easiest to rank up. Don't go after factions in the beginning they require crucible marks and they are currently take a lot longer to gain. Also I see many new players put on a faction class piece to build up rep while sitting on 200 vanguard marks unable to use them. So first you want to constantly build up vanguard rep and marks. Do all the daily vanguard bounties. Do the public events getting gold tier. This can get you marks very quickly. You can get a time table as to when they will happen on [url]destinypublicevents.com[/url] Also you want to play the Vanguard strike list that is near your level. This gives you marks, rep, and engrams. Once you get Rank 3 you will earn commendations that you can use to get the rest of your armor. If you are lucky you may receive a Vanguard weapon or armor that you don't have as a random reward for getting tier 3 and on. Also you want to do the Weekly Heroic Strike for strange coins and not to forget a lot of vanguard rep. If you can't do level 30 yet don't sweat it. Do the ones you can and save your strange coins. Xur Agent of the Nine comes to the tower every Friday and Saturday usually he will sell an exotic armor piece for your class. This armor will boost your level greatly. It can help you get to level 32 later. You also want to do the Daily Heroic missions. These offer marks, ascendant materials, and other materials such as relic iron that can level up your gear. Ok I reached level 29 now what. This is the level I would start trying to do the Weekly Nightfall Strike on. If you have a best buddy to carry you on lower levels then even greater. Now soloing a strike on level 29 can be difficult so I would suggest looking for people on [quote]destinylfg.net[/quote] This should be the first thing you do after every weekly reset. It gives you a lasting XP bonus for the whole week. This includes all reputation. Also the Nightfall offers the chance at exotics, legendaries, materials, or strange coins. [b]ok but what about weapons?[/b] I have a few suggestions but remember they are 150 marks and you can buy 2 per character every 3 weeks since they cap you at a 100 marks a week. I can say strengthen whatever you think is the weak link in your arsenal. My favorite Vanguard weapon and suggestion is the LDR 5001 sniper. If you don't have a good sniper I would suggest it since keeping distance from enemies is key in hard strikes like Nightfalls. Once you build up some vanguard commendations I would move on to Crucible next. They usually have some good weapons like the Saterinne Rapier a scout rifle that has Firefly perk. A perk that is pretty handy for certain missions and parts of the raid. And Crucible has a bigger variety for sale then the factions so get it to rank 3. After that I would pick a faction and level it exclusively they have many rewards that aren't visible in their vendor store. So once you are level 31 I would suggest playing Crota's End level 30 Raid. This is where you will get the end game gear to get to level 32 and grab the best legendary gear. Technically you don't need to do the Vault of Glass but I suggest you do it is quite an experience and more fun than Crota in my opinion. Also there are some worth while chances at exotics including the Vex Mythoclast which is a monster in PVP. Although level 30 Vault of Glass I would consider harder than level 30 Crota so I would do the Crota Noramal Raid first. To prepare for the Raid it is best to watch some you tube videos so you will have an idea of what is going on and how to be a help for your team. For Crota you can do it on level 30 but the enemies are upscaled to 32 later so you will feel like you are using a pea shooter against most enemies especially during the Deathsinger portion. Also if you manage to get a good launcher with tracking on it level it up and use it for Crota you will be more successful when trying to down him since you have a better potential to miss with regular launchers. Once you hit level 32 it is time for the Level 33 hard Crota Raid. Getting the Raid elemental primaries are great rewards for completing this. More tips... Tip # 1 [spoiler]Also in the beginning if you cap on glimmer which is capped at 25k don't sit on it. Every time it is about to fill buy a heavy ammo synthesis or two from the gunsmith. You will thank me later[/spoiler] Tip #2 [spoiler]Try to turn in your bounties simultaneously it seems to lead to greater chances in getting an exotic bounty[/spoiler] Tip #3 [spoiler]Grind Eris bounties each day and complete all of her mission. You can get a great legendary fusion rifle Murmur and level 31 gauntlets if you didn't get level 31 gauntlets by now. Level 4 Eris rep can also unlock radiant material exchange which can be useful leveling up if you don't have enough shards[/spoiler]