So with sunsetting bungie killed off the Red War storyline (how you first got introduced) unfortunately. So whatever stuff happened in New Light is basically how you're introduced to the game now. Speaker's been missing since D2s start (so you haven't missed much there, that was all the explanation we got too) and you can still play the Forsaken campaign, which is where Cayde dies. Shadowkeep should still be available too. I do recommend playing Forsaken's campaign, its very good.

[quote]So I decided to check out Destiny 2 since I just got gamepass and was greeted with what was basically Destiny 1s intro and region of the cosmodrome. So after a bit of deja vu and feeling like I loaded up the wrong game... [/quote] You did not, D2 while having remnants of its predecessor its a different game, open up the menu and the differences are notable. If you're on gamepass you are also granted the major expansions up to date that being [i]Forsaken, Shadowkeep and Beyond light[/i]. At this point you can play those campaigns in that order and you'll get the right sense of continuity of D2. Unlike D1, D2 has a fornite system of seasons now and that seasonal content from the paid season pass model is the one you won't have access to nowadays. [i]The Red War[/i] is the main story of D2, as part of the [i]new light[/i] Idk if you get to play some of it, maybe none, that was Bungo's choice of vault that content, to basically stripped D2 out of D2 🙄 [quote]... I got to the tower and the ghost takes me on a tour, drops a remark about Cayde-6 having been killed a while back, Zavala is in charge now, the speaker totally MIA, and dialogue talking about all these events that have happened. Now I didn't get Destiny 2 at launch but I know there was a big war with the cabal and a few other things that led to Cayde-6's death but as a "new player" coming into Destiny 2 it feels abundantly clear starting out that you've missed a lot when you reach the tower[/quote] D2 is a live service game, if you haven't been around since launch yes, naturally, you missed the continuity and the game won't stay static the D2 world have moved on good news is, as I said earlier, you can play the major expansions and you'll find yourself knowing what is currently going on. [quote]... I opened up destinations to see if I'd missed something and there was just an odd way of accessing the main story campaigns and nope its all just gone, Titan, IO, Mercury, Mars are all just totally gone[/quote] To my understanding you were not around D2 up until now that you have gamepass, but you seem very aware of the vanilla D2 content, you can even name the D2's destinations that got vaulted... [quote]... Its like Destiny 2 got deleted and replaced with Destiny 1 (sort of) and some other stuff[/quote] By no means I'm praising D2, understood?? But saying [i]D2 got deleted and replaced with Destiny 1 and some other stuff[/i] is a statement that not only is imprecise and also underrates the game. [quote]Part of me just wants to uninstall cause something feels just really weird about all that as a player and I'm finding it really hard to immerse myself with that[/quote] How about you try to immerse with the D2 you allegedly haven't ever played starting with [i]Forsaken[/i] instead of [i]feeling weird[/i] about the content that, again, you said you haven't played and is no longer in the game. [quote]Am I missing something...[/quote] Yes you are, you can tell if you just play the game(?) [quote]... is all that content going to come back at some point or is it just always going to feel like playing Halo 1's first level then skipping the rest, Halo 2 having happened but not being playable, and being thrown into Halo 3 as though its like half sequel/half reboot of the first game?[/quote] I don't know what to answer to your D2's vaulted content analogy with Halo, cause i haven't played halo beyond its PvP, but Bungo said the vaulted content was taken away to be reworked and to be introduced back to D2 as its story moves further.

Depending on which version of the game you bought depends on where you start. Legendary Edition I am fairly sure you need to visit Amanda in the hangar. Shadowkeep you go to the Moon and do the “A Mysterious Disturbance”. Beyond Light travel to Europa and visit Variks.