Destiny 2 has been around for quite a few years now, and its lifespan appears to continuously grow as it plows ahead and its dedicated community ardently supports it. Over this time it's seen all sorts of changes through each expansion, with new seasons and unique events adding to the rich looting and shooting experience.
This game is hardly the game it was when it first released. While the core of Destiny 2 has remained the same style of gameplay, there have been huge changes and updates that have utterly changed how it's played, bought, and built. This list is sure to grow in the coming years, but these are just a few of the biggest changes in the first several years of the game.
10 Leaving Activision Blizzard's Storefront
No discussion about the changes to Destiny 2 can ignore the hugest changes to how you can play and buy the game. With Bungie leaving Activision Blizzard, the PC version of the game is no longer exclusive to Battle.net, meaning players can experience it through Steam.
This isn't a huge change in regards to how the game plays, but it means that people aren't starting the game the same way as it originally was. There are tons of higher-level and meta changes, but this is one that many players may not know about if they start the game today.
9 Retired Weapons And Armor
As many long-time players of Destiny 2 and the original game know, Bungie has a habit of creating a fear-of-missing-out surrounding new and old items. There are tons of Exotics that existed near the start of the game that are entirely gone, and even some items specific to certain seasons.
Several guns have been removed as recently as November 2020, including the Revoker Sniper Rifle and the Mountaintop Grenade Launcher. There's always a great stream of new weapons with each season and major expansion, but there are still many that players will never be able to find thanks to Bungie's original sunsetting tradition.
8 Retired Planets And Raids
Particular pieces of equipment are hardly the only things that Destiny 2 players won't get to experience if they just started the game recently. Several of the game's original planets have been entirely removed since the game's release (including the large maps of Mars and Mercury) to fit the current Destiny 2 story and power levels.
Alongside the game's lost planets are lost raids, strikes, and even PVP maps. This has been hugely controversial in the community since it limits the game's content and diversity of environments but doesn't inherently detract from the massive amount of content throughout Destiny 2 even without it.
7 Season Passes
At the start of Destiny 2, the idea was that new content would be a regular part of the game each year. As it turns out, this ended up being much slower than many other live-service style games, and within just a year Destiny took to a new approach to Seasons alongside the game's annual expansions.
These Season Passes are much more reminiscent of Battle Passes in other competitive games like Fortnite, but also allow access to all sorts of additional activities and weapons. There are now nearly four each year, and they are astonishingly full of story points, new unlockable equipment, and quests despite their relatively low costs.
6 The Death Of Cayde-6
Before talking about the game's numerous gameplay changes, there's also one massively significant lore event that many players may find shocking if they've only seen the game's ads, or haven't checked in on the story in many years. This would be the fate of Cayde-6, who passed away in a major battle at the start of the game's Forsaken expansion.
Not only is he now dead, but he's also been confirmed to stay dead repeatedly by Bungie in statements outside the game. Considering the popularity of this charismatic character, particularly due to his beloved voice actor Nathan Fillion, this can often be a huge surprise to returning players who know his presence in the series.
5 Gambit
There can be a huge division between PVE and PVP players in Destiny 2, as both modes have greatly different communities and massively different character builds. This all changed quite early into the game with the new Gambit mode, a hybrid that ends up being surprisingly fulfilling.
The mode has seen many changes since its original release in the Forsaken expansion, but it's entirely different than nearly any other PVP mode in most games. It's a spectacular way to combine killing players with quickly handling mobs, and is especially great for those who like a really fast-paced PVE environment.
4 Cross-Save
For quite a long time, Destiny 2 players were extremely divided between the platforms they played on. Being on PS4 usually meant different clans, communities, and populations compared to the PC version. Despite it being the same game on each console, there was a huge concern about switching platforms.
This all changed when cross-save was added, using Bungie's own account system to allow moving characters between platforms. This made the divide significantly smaller, and with Bungie's plan to move into cross-play multiplayer between different consoles, it's likely there will be be a lot more close ties between each platform that Destiny is played on in the near future.
3 Better Eververse Products
One of the other more controversial aspects of Destiny 2 is the Eververse, an area where microtransactions can be made to obtain primarily cosmetic items. There are a few items that can be purchased through in-game currencies like Bright Dust here. However, many included one-time use armor mods that would change their appearance but be consumed once used.
This has thankfully become a thing of the past, as most so-called Ornaments for Legendary and Exotic armor now bind to characters and accounts. This means you can apply cosmetic items to any gear multiple times, making it much more worthwhile to purchase a cosmetic product without expecting to throw it away if you find new gear in the future.
2 Free-To-Play
Destiny: Beyond Light update made perhaps the biggest change to the game by making the introductory quests, levels, and exotics completely free, with content like quests and raids for the game's expansions being the only paywall.
This has made the game much more accessible, and the game is more popular than ever since it's easy to try before getting too financially invested. It's one of the best free-to-play games out there thanks to a large amount of content you get without payment, but even just getting the Season Pass for under fifteen dollars can grant you an entire game's worth of content.
1 The Sunset Of Sunsetting
While this change hasn't entirely taken place yet, Bungie has actually moved to make a huge change to the changes that have already been mentioned in this list. The sunsetting of gear and levels has frustrated many players and made many others unable to experience some of the best parts of Destiny 2, so it was announced in February 2021 that this process will be retired.
This makes now a better time to try Destiny 2 than ever since the content you engage in will likely be around for the entire time you play. The game is only going to grow bigger with future expansions, and you'll no longer have to fear your favorite weapons and armor becoming irrelevant as this new content arrives.