what to do when you've completed the story

Bungie has made much of the fact that Destiny only really "begins" once you polish off the story. This is a little disingenuous, in practice - to significant degree, the endgame is about repeating old missions against higher level enemies, in order to unlock Legendary and Exotic weapons that, stat differences and perks notwithstanding, handle much the same as entry-level guns. Still, there's undeniably a lot to do after the credits roll. If you're scratching your head over the star map, wondering where best to bestow your Dinklage-augmented talents, I have a few suggestions. Await the Raids These are extremely tough, protracted lategame co-op missions that require a fireteam of six, composed of Xbox Live friends. They'll be unlocked or made available via expansion over the next few months: the first, a Raid on the Vault of Glass on Venus, becomes available for play on 16th September. Raids may take you to parts of the world that aren't currently open for exploration, and are structured differently to Strikes: there are no waypoints, and items may be required to open the route to the Raid. A pleasant byproduct of this could be that players pay more attention to the environments, which are often sadly disregarded in Strikes as Fireteams rush relentlessly towards the objective. Grind the Crucible and Vanguard playlists You've probably noticed that certain vendors at the Tower have Exotic or Legendary gear for sale that isn't available for purchase using bog-standard Glimmer. These must be unlocked by earning different kinds of currency - Crucible or Vanguard marks and reputation, both of which become available from level 18 upwards. You'll earn Marks from the Crucible simply by playing PvP, with up to 100 marks available for harvesting per week (there's no weekly cap on how much Crucible reputation you can earn). Vanguard marks and rep are cranked out by way of the Vanguard Strikes playlist. Join a faction If you're hell-bent on nabbing the full range of loot, you'll also want to build up your standing with a faction. To do so, simply buy a piece of faction-specific gear from one of their representatives at the Tower - you'll accumulate faction reputation and marks by wearing that item while completing missions via the Vanguard playlist. Level up past 20 Players stop gaining ranks from basic XP generation when they hit level 20, but it's possible to rank up past 20 by finding and equipping gear that's invested with the Traveller's Light (in our experience, it'll need to be Rare (blue) equipment or better). You can also upgrade this equipment to increase its Light stat. Play timed activities Want to earn a bunch of XP, marks or reputation in a hurry? Watch out for special time-limited activities with bonus rewards on the lefthand side of the solar system map. The first of these runs from 12th to 14th September, and includes access to a new Crucible mode, Salvage, where you battle to gather and return relics to your base. Scour the planets for Golden Chests, hidden foes and resources Aside from materials that are required to upgrade certain weapons, like Spinmetal and Plasteel, you'll discover treasure chests around each planet's surface (many defended by high-level enemies). Keep an eye out for the Gold variety in particular, as these tend to cough up rarer items. Start a new class By far Destiny's strongest suit as an RPG is its unadventurous, but lovingly crafted class system. There are three classes to begin with, each of which sports a number of unlockable abilities and perks, plus three more subclasses when you hit level 15. What's impressive about the pacing of class and ability unlocks is that it corresponds to your deepening understanding of the game - by the time you've nabbed every ability for the Titan's Striker subclass, for example, you should be familiar enough with PvP and co-op Strikes to see the point of the Defender subclass, which focuses on healing and support rather than damage-dealing. The best reason to keep playing is thus simply to start a new character. Fortunately, you won't need to delete the old one first. Brace for DLC and free game updates Bungie has said that it plans to support Destiny for a long, long time, filling in the canvas with new modes, areas, gear and who knows what else. Here's a quick taster of what to expect in winter 2014.