Hello world! I am a proud member of DoD Beyond (ps3 clan) and am here to share some info that I wish I had when I first started playing. This is a copy / pasta of a thread I made for our clan's forum. Many of you already know some / most /all /more then this. If you have updates or revisions, or simply more info to add, please post it and I will give you full credit in the post. Without further ado. [b]Good Resources[/b] [url]http://destinylfg.net/[/url] - Good way to find groups. [url]http://destinypublicevents.com/[/url] Good way to find upcoming Public Events [url]http://destinytracker.com/[/url] Good way to get more details on another player (or yourself) [url]http://planetdestiny.com/[/url] Great source of info, gear reviews and has a full Database to look up items [b]Terms I use in this Guide[/b] [u]Tier 1 Enemy[/u] - These are the typical enemies you run into everywhere. They have red health bars and you do full damage per shot. [u]Tier 2 Enemy[/u] - These are yellow health bar enemies, your body shots do full damage but precision shots only do a max of 150% base instead of up to 300%. [u]Factions[/u] - These are [i]Future War Cult (FWC), [/i][i]New Monarchy (NM)[/i] and [i]Dead Orbit (DO)[/i] [b]Different Kinds of Currencies[/b] [u]Glimmer[/u] - Capped at 25,000. This is used to buy perks on gear and ammo synthesis from the Gunsmith. Well, mainly. Glimmer is the only currency shared across multiple characters on the same account. ---------- (A) There is a way to get around the 25K Cap. Tier II mobs have a chance to drop an item that can be turned into the Cryptarch for 200 glimmer per. Just hoard these and cash them in as necessary. [u]Vanguard Marks[/u] - You get these for completing Public Events and from Strike Playlists. Used to buy Weapons and Armor from the Vanguard Vendors. You can get 100 per week and hold 200 max at any one time. [u]Crucible Marks[/u] - You get these from the Crucible only. Used to buy weapons and armor from the Faction and Crucible Vendors. You can get 100 per week and hold 200 max at any one time. [u]Motes of Light[/u] - You get these from engrams and from "leveling up" after you hit rank 20. Used to buy Exotic Engrams from Xur, vanity items from the Speaker, and is used in some Exotic Bounties. [i]*Update: Xur information. Thanks DanOate38*[/i] [u]Strange Coins[/u] - Used to buy Exotic pieces from Xur, also used in some Exotic bounties. [u]Commendations[/u] - Used to buy Expansion 1 Weapons, Chest and Helmets from the vendors. Obtained from rank 3 and up gift baskets. [b]How Do I Get Legendary Armor[/b] You can get Legendary Armor from Engrams, Rank up gift baskets, Crucible and Strikes, Chests and the Raids. [u]Blue Engrams[/u]: These will give you Legendary gear very rarely (3% or less chance). This can be Launch or Expansion 1 gear. [u]Purple Engrams[/u]: These will give you Legendary gear, or Assendant Shards/Energy. This can be Launch or Expansion 1 gear. [u]Rank up gift baskets[/u]: In my experience you get a Legendary piece of gear about 40% of the time from the respective Vendor's stock, perks will be random. This will be Expansion 1 gear. [u]Crucible and Strikes[/u]: Upon completion of a Roc Strike (level 26) or any Crucible match, you have a slight chance of a Legendary or better piece of gear. This will be Launch or Expansion 1 gear. [u]Chests[/u]: Very rarely will you receive a Legendary piece of gear from a non-Raid chest. Can be Launch or Expansion 1 gear. [u]Raids[/u]: Vault of Glass encounters will give you Launch Legendary gear but Expansion 1 Exotics, Crota's End will give you Expansion 1 gear exclusively. [b]The Difference Between Launch and Expansion 1 Gear[/b] Look in the upper right hand corner of the icon for that piece of gear, do you see a little Roman Numeral ( I )? If so it is Expansion 1, which has higher damage (weapon) or higher Light level (armor). All Faction vendors currently sell Expansion 1 gear exclusively, but they do not have the little roman numeral on the icon. (Besides the Speaker, who sells only vanity items) [b]How Exotics Work, and What They Are[/b] You are allowed to equip only 1 Exotic Armor piece and 1 Exotic Weapon at any time. Dismantling an Exotic piece (weapon or armor) will give you an Exotic Shard. If an Exotic Weapon has maxed exp (no need to buy perks, just unlock them all) then you can get 2 Exotic shards from Dismantling it commonly. Sometimes you will only get 1 Shard. You need 1 Exotic Shard to max any Exotic. You can buy Exotic Shards from Xur each weekend for 7 Strange Coins. [b]New Vendor Armor[/b] The new vendor armor will take you up to level 31 whereas the old will take you to a max of level 29. [u]Vendor Boots[/u]: 75 Marks [u]Vendor Gloves[/u]: 75 Marks [u]Vendor Chest[/u]: 75 Marks + 1 Commendation [u]Vendor Helmet[/u]: 120 Marks + 1 Commendation [b]How to get Commendations[/b] You will get 1 Commendation with the rank up gift basket upon reaching rank 3 with the respective Faction, Vanguard or Crucible. [u]Vanguard faction[/u] will give you Vanguard Commendations. [u]Crucible faction[/u] will give you Crucible Commendations. [u]Dead Orbit, Future War Cult and New Monarchy[/u] will give you Crucible Commendations commonly. You will occasionally not receive one. (unknown if this is a bug) [b]How to Upgrade Gear[/b] To reach max you need upgrade materials. You need Glimmer, Weapon Parts *for weapons only*, Class specific parts *for armor only* and Planetary materials. The last 3 Increase Damage / Armor perks on all Legendary gear also need either Ascendant Energy (weapons) or Shards (armor). Expansion 1 Raid Armor requires Radiant Materials, which only come from Crota's End Raid encounters + Chests, or from dismantling Crota's End Raid Armor or Weapons. [b]How to Get Upgrade Materials[/b] [b]Glimmer[/b] - Many sources. [b]Weapon Parts[/b] - Dismantle any Uncommon (green) weapon or higher. You get more parts if your weapon has unlocked some perks on it. You do not need to buy any upgrades, just unlock them. [b]Class Specific Materials [/b]- You get these for Dismantling any Uncommon (green) or higher piece of armor. What class item you get is specific to the equipable class of the item. To wit; if a Warlock Dismantles a piece of Titan gear, that Warlock will get Titan specific class materials. Again, the more perks you have unlocked on that piece of armor, the more class materials you get. [b]Planetary Materials[/b] - Spinmetal (Earth), Helium Fragments (Moon), Spirit Bloom (Venus) and Relic Iron (Mars). The first Upgrade Damage / Armor perk requires 8 of these, each additional perk requires 16. You can get these either by farming them on their respective planets. Links to good farming runs at the end of this post. Ascendant mats can be found in Legendary Engrams, Rank up gift baskets, Chests, Raids, Public Events or from deconstructing Legendary gear. [u]Legendary Engrams[/u]: 2-3 Mats [u]Rank up gift baskets[/u]: 1-3 Mats [u]Chests[/u]: 2-3 Mats (usually only in Raids, otherwise very rare) [u]Raids[/u]: 2-3 Mats per encounter [u]Public Events[/u]: Chance of 1 Mat upon completing a Public Event with 3 gold stars. [u]Deconstructing Legendary Gear[/u]: 2-3 (OR) 5-6 To get the maximum amount of mats from deconstructing weapons, get the max amount of exp possible on the weapon, When you unlock the last perk (note you do not have to buy any perks, just unlock them) you will get 5-6 Energy instead of 2-3 Energy from deconstructing it. [b]How Many Upgrade Mats Do You Need[/b] [u]To upgrade a Launch Legendary [/u]you need 18 Ascendant Mats [u]To upgrade an Expansion 1 Legendary[/u] you need 18 Ascendant Mats [u]To upgrade an Expansion 1 Raid piece[/u] you need 21 Radiant Mats [b]How Much Light to Level[/b] Effectively you need exactly 12 Light for each level past 20, It works slightly differently in practice however. [i]Edit: thanks Kevlarproof[/i] How this works is that you need 21 Light to reach level 21, 11 Light for levels 22-30, and 12 Light for levels 31 and 32. [u]Level 21[/u] - 21 Light [u]Level 22[/u] - 32 Light [u]Level 23[/u] - 43 Light [u]Level 24[/u] - 54 Light [u]Level 25[/u] - 65 Light [u]Level 26[/u] - 76 Light [u]Level 27[/u] - 87 Light [u]Level 28[/u] - 98 Light [u]Level 29[/u] - 109 Light [u]Level 30[/u] - 120 Light [u]Level 31[/u] - 132 Light [u]Level 32[/u] - 144 Light [b]What is X Armor's Light Level[/b] [u]Launch Legendary[/u] - 27 Light [u]Launch Exotic[/u] - 30 Light [u]Launch Raid Armor[/u] - 30 Light [u]Expansion 1 Legendary[/u] - 33 Light [u]Expansion 1 Exotic[/u] - 36 Light [u]Expansion 1 Raid Armor[/u] - 36 Light [b]How Do I Reach X Level[/b] Just add up the light level. For each level above 20 you need 12 Light. For quick reference: [u]To reach level 29 you need[/u]: 4x Launch Legendary Armor [u]To reach level 30 you need[/u]: 3x Launch Raid Armor and 1 Launch Exotic (or) 4x Launch Raid Armor [u]To reach level 31 you need[/u]: 4x Expansion 1 Legendary Armor [u]To reach level 32 you need[/u]: 3x Expansion 1 Raid Armor and 1 Expansion 1 exotic (or) 4x Launch Raid Armor [b]How Levels Affect Damage[/b] http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2h9t6b/this_is_how_light_levels_affect_your_gameplay_and/ This is ONLY PvE. The Crucible is normalized, which means that higher levels mean pretty much nothing. [b]How to Farm Glimmer[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVHfwukdc14 You must do this on Heroic for the Tier II Legionaries to appear. You must use Resupply Codes (Cabal Glimmer Consumable) to increase the amount of glimmer from 25 to 46 per kill. You can also kill the first drop ship of spawns for slightly more glimmer per run, although you actually earn less that way as it is faster to just kill the Tier II Legonaries. Doing this I net about 3k Glimmer per 10 minutes or roughly 18k Glimmer per hour, plus glimmer turn in drops.