I'd say about 2 months if you play regularly to go from Noob to Vet. But, Xmas Noobs, will have never experience what day 1 players (also Alpha/beta) have experienced: -Cryptarch giving Common Items from Legendary Engrams.... Yes GREENS! -Xur selling Gjallahorn in Week 2, when nobody knew how good it was -Iron Banner 1.0, that was pretty much standard Control, where Power did not matter one bit, Khostov was just as effective as Hawkmoon -How Bad Juju and Thorn were amongst the worst exotics in the game -How ridiculously OP Vex MC was, I believe it was a 2 hit kills with an insane extended magazine pre-patch (50+?) -Queen's Wrath (which will return), but getting them Legendary Helms, Chest Piece, and discarding them for ascendant material -The infamous Treasure Cave (gone but never forgotten) -Throwing Atheon and Templar off cliffs using Solar Grenades -Using the Sniper perches for Templar -Getting the Templar no teleport chest in VOG (still possible - but needs excellent team co-ordination)