Amid all the controversies and questionable decisions over recent months, Destiny 2’s scandalous Starter Pack is one of the worst. This microtransaction was marketed as the perfect starter bundle for new players, but it was anything but – and Bungie was charging $15 for the pleasure. However, with the reveal of the New Light Kits that are arriving on April 9 as part of Destiny 2 Into The Light, it looks like Bungie’s learned its lesson. Not only are New Light Kits free, but they’ll give newbies on PS5 and Xbox a proper, meaningful leg-up too.
The new player experience in Destiny has been one of its downfalls for ages. With its many mechanics, numerous activity types, and a sprawling ten-year narrative, it’s a complicated game, and onboarding fresh (or even returning) Guardians is one of the core areas where Bungie has been trying to improve. For FPS game veterans, or those that have experienced friends already playing Destiny 2, it will quickly become one of the best Xbox games and best PS5 games you can play. However, if you’re going in fairly blind, we wouldn’t blame anyone for walking back out the door in a bewildered state after a couple of hours.
Understanding Destiny 2 is just half the story too – there’s also the issue of being so far behind existing players in terms of your abilities and gear. Well, New Light Kits are here to bridge that gap by giving players a free, curated loadout. Unlike the horrendous (and, if we’re being honest, predatory) Starter Pack from last year, this will actually set you up well for most of the multiplayer game’s activities.
The main draw of NLKs is that they give you a subclass that already has lots of helpful abilities, Aspects, and Fragments unlocked – while the Darkness subclasses of Stasis and Strand aren’t included, you can pick from Solar, Arc, or Void. Alongside this, you’ll get a set of armor, two Legendary weapons, and even one Exotic weapon. Bungie hasn’t yet revealed which Exotics are included, or if it’ll just be a random pull from the large pool of Exotic weapons available.
As confirmed in a recent Bungie blog post, there will also be “a short quest that, when completed, will grant a piece of Exotic armor”.
Now compare this to the Destiny 2 Starter Pack that was added to the in-game store last year (and then removed soon after, thanks to community outcry). It included three fairly good Exotic weapons, admittedly, however the rest of its content fell well short. Small amounts of easily-earned currency and cosmetic items like ships and Ghost shells were hardly what you’d expect to find in a genuinely helpful ‘starter pack’ for new players – and it wasn’t good value either at its $14.99 price point.
There’s a whole lot more going on in Into The Light, but this is one of the big changes we’re excited to see – and we’ve been playing the game for years! Speeding up new players’ journeys towards crafting the best Destiny 2 Hunter builds, Titan builds, and Warlock builds is only a good thing for the health of the game, in our eyes.
Following the delay of The Final Shape release date, we thought Into The Light would be nothing more than rehashed filler content, but it’s unexpectedly turning into one of the most helpful and interesting updates Destiny 2 has seen in a while.
For more news on some of the top shooters out there, the new Helldivers 2 Warbond has been revealed, and there’s a new (and very complicated) easter egg to complete in Warzone following the return of Rebirth Island.