I began playing last week and thought I was handicapped at first. I thought I was the only person who didn't understand what the hell was going on. I'm very glad I ran into your post. Only reason I'm playing this is because it looks and plays so well on the PS5. But regardless of its charm, I'm always on youtube, reddit, and google trying to figure stuff out so this totally takes away from the experience. My motto is that a good game will always keep your hands on the controller gaming instead on the keyboard to look up answers for poor design choices by developers. The only good reasons to go on google is to figure out a hard puzzle or to get tips to kill a hard boss. Going on google to figure out how to activate your story missions is not a reason to stop playing and log into Reddit for tips. I think Bungie has rewritten the english language because for example the word calibrate is not used nearly in the same definition or context in Destiny 2 as it is in the dictionary. This is just one example out of probably a hundred I have encountered in this game that are just stress inducing and slow down the momentum of the grind. The charming qualities about this game are just good enough by a margin to keep me playing, but seriously this is the most unfriendly game to new players. I literally spend half my time on google trying to figure out what the game means when it's giving out a contract. Honestly it's a videogame it shouldn't be this complex, and in reality it's a simple game with very simple mechanics in gameplay. Borderlands 3 has more complexity with modding, spells, and combos than Destiny 2, and you get more legendary items and spend more time shooting instead of figuring stuff out. The problem in Destiny 2 is that they are trying too hard to sound intelligent and futuristic by compartmentalizing everything in complex folders when in reality it is a lot simpler than they make it to be. I bought the DLC's and it took me around an hour to figure out how to Activate the stories, and I'm still running into issues in continuing the story missions (My current technique is just clicking on all the planets and hope I find a story symbol. Kind of pathetic) I'm right now on this mission telling me to calibrate my progress, but sometimes it moves up % and sometimes it doesn't. I have no idea what I'm doing right or wrong. There is also this other contract telling me to go purify resources for an NPC but there are no map indicators of where to go or who to talk to. Sometimes it tells me to go find another NPC by using their name on their contract but on the map they have their job title. Sorry I'm not dedicating my time to remembering all the NPCs by name and titles. This is ridiculous. Another issue is how some missions are catered to try hard PVP players. For example: I spent about 9 hours on a long exotic contract to reach the final check point which is to do a full team wipe out 3 times in a row in a match as an invader in Gambit. This concurrence of wipe outs has to be in one match, if not it doesn't count. There was 0 PVP throughout the whole contract until the end and I wouldn't have taken this contract if I knew the final check point would be this try hard and this ridiculous. If I wanted to play PVP I would have played COD, not a game based on loot grinding and circumstantial moments at best. I have a high win % in gambit but there is no way I can wipe out the opposing team as an invader 3 times in a row. I doubt who ever comes up with these contracts actually plays videogames or can actually do what they are asking. I'm not a hardcore PVP player so grinding for around 9 hours for a long contract and then reaching a dead end is such bullshit. I will probably get that item by just pure luck. But now I have a bad taste in my mouth every-time I play gambit. It feels like I'm grinding the grind to get one item. At least in Borderlands 3 you can grind and there is a satisfaction to the mystery every-time you see the golden weapons falling out of the enemies. I'm just going to beat all the DLCs I paid for and get platinum. After that I'm moving on.

My little nephew has started playing D2, and I’ve been trying to help him get quests done. He just keeps mentioning bounties he has to do. I only know what I know because ive been playing since day 1. These new players need guidance and a cap on things they receive at one time. The game should take them through the story first to get used to mechanics. Having all these activities open up so early kills the interest and attention span of some players.

Get ready since its gonna get even more confusing when they remove 4 planets... and 5 raids.

I got a few friends into the game and I honestly felt bad about it. They bought the DLCs and everything and have no idea what to do and every time they find something they like, it seems like the game drags them away. I cannot recommend D2 to new players.

Yeah I deleted my warlock because he looked ugly af and when I made a new one my entire quest tab is full of new light stuff. And that's not even a new charachter.

This really hits it on the head. I purchased d2 vanilla and played for a bit as a carry over from d1. Got bored and quit. I have zero expansions and bought the season pass because Xbox gave me a 5$ gift card. Why not? So now after 3weeks of grinding one character I think I am finally starting to understand it. And I am seeing again why I quit. All the flying around just sucks rocks. And the load times are horrendous. Working out the confusion always requires finding a related video. What a grind.

I came across a new player in a strike a few days ago, fresh out of the tutorial. I made sure to give them a nudge in the right direction and pointed them to Amanda Holliday who would have some of the campaigns available to start (let them get familiar with the world, you know?). Also offered to help whenever they needed it down the line

Don’t forget about Beaver codes!!!

This is so true, and also an understatement!! It's like dropping a newbie in a minefield with a backpack of bounties, and saying "go get em"!

Nothing is explained no tutorials, no clear story to follow. People either need guidance or watch 100 hour of youtube to up on par.

Period

It’s been convoluted for awhile unfortunately.

It's a mess for everyone.