Destiny 2 Activities: how you unlock and complete Flashpoints, Lost Sectors, Milestones, Challenges and more

Destiny 2 has a wider variety of stuff to do than the original. Here’s how to get at it.

Like the first game, Destiny 2 is an open world shooter in which the story campaign is just the start of the fun, as well as the start of your journey to the Power cap.

Destiny 2 drops you right into the story when you first create or import a character, and does a good job of guiding you onwards through the campaign with badged missions on your Director (map). But what if you want to do something else?

On this Destiny 2 guide page we’ll list all the available Activities, and explain what they are, how to get at them, and how to complete them. We’ve put it in alphabetical order to make it easy for you to find the information you want.

This page is part of our Destiny 2 guide, and is subject to change and updates as we explore the release build alongside all of you eager Guardians.

Adventures

Adventures are side quests: narrative-driven missions available in each location which are not necessary for completing the main Red War questline. Adventures usually reward a bit of loot and XP upon completion, as well as a whack of region reputation to help you claim engrams from the region vendor. Once all Adventures in a region are completed, the region vendor will offer a daily selection of four Adventures you can repeat for XP and loot.

Call to Arms

Roughly equivalent to D1’s weekly Crucible quest, Call to Arms is a weekly Milestone capable of awarding endgame loot. It is played out in PvP, and issued by Lord Shaxx once he appears on the Farm during the course of the main story campaign. In Week 1, the quest merely requires Crucible match completion – not wins! – in either playlist.

Challenges

Roughly equivalent to D1’s bounties, Challenges are a set series of three tasks for each Destination, the Strike playlist and both Crucible playlists, for a total of 21. These are refreshed daily. Unlocks after you bring Ikora Rey to the Farm over the course of the story campaign.

Crucible

The Crucible is Destiny 2’s competitive multiplayer (PvP) environment, and takes place across eight dedicated maps. Choose from quickplay or competitive playlists, depending on whether you’re looking for fun or want to challenge yourself over longer matches. Quickplay is best for solos while pre-formed groups will enjoy competitive. There are a variety of different modes, all played in teams of 4v4. Here are the ones we know about so far:

• Clash
  Classic team deathmatch. No further objectives.
• Control
  Hold territory across three capture points to earn points.
• Countdown [NEW]
  One team must deliver a payload to an objective and guard it through a timer, while the other defends.
• Supremacy
  Kill Guardians, then capture the crests they drop – if you can! – to earn points. Reclaim allied crests for points, too.
• Survival [NEW]
  Teams can only revive each other a certain number of times, after which deaths are permanent through the end of the round.

Flashpoint

A weekly Milestone challenging players to complete public events in a specific Destination in return for endgame loot. Unlocks after you return Cayde-6 to the Farm during the story campaign.

Iron Banner

Bungie has not yet confirmed the return of its monthly PvP event, but we have our fingers crossed. Expect endgame loot if it does come back.

Lost Sectors

Marked on your map and in the world by an arch symbol, these short dungeons feature a mini-boss who must be defeated in order to claim a cache key for the nearby loot chest. The map icon will be greyed out slightly after initial completion, but the Lost Sector will repopulate with loot and enemies after some time, or immediately if a quest calls for entry. Loot rewards seem to peter out at about 265 Power but can very rarely go higher.

Meditations

After completion of the Red War Story campaign, you can visit Ikora and participate in Meditations, which basically means replaying story missions to earn loot, XP, and Ikora’s faction reputation; cash in Vanguard Research tokens with her to earn Legendary loot. This provides yet another path to engrams for primarily PvE players. At this stage it looks like there’ll be four Meditation missions available each week.

Milestones

This map menu tracks the goals you need to pursue in order to unlock content and become stronger. Pre-endgame, it is populated with quest and story goals as well as the the regular weekly Milestones Call to Arms, Flashpoint, Nightfall and Clan XP. Weekly milestones reward endgame loot.

Nightfall

A more challenging version of a Strike, modified to present extra difficulties – or open windows for opportunities. One of the weekly Milestones, awarding endgame loot.

Patrols

Short, non-story missions you can pick up while wandering in Destinations. Unlocked by a short quest, given after Cayde-6 arrives on the Farm during the main story campaign, and thereafter freely available.

Public Events

Tougher-than-average encounters that spawn in Destinations on a set timer, and which anybody in the vicinity can attempt to complete. Some are fairly straight forward battles, while others include objectives such as deactivating shields to gather weapons, defeating bosses or following enemies between waves. Public Events award region reputation and goodies via a chest that spawns when the event is completed or the timer expires, as well as loot drops earned during the fight. If you’re clever and organised, you can trigger a Heroic objective and earn even better loot. See our page on Destiny 2 Public Events, Heroic objectives and the best loot for more on that.

Raids

Long, very challenging missions designed for six player teams. No matchmaking, but Guided Games will help solos find groups. An endgame activity with chances for very good loot. The first Destiny 2 raid opened on September 13, and officially we know nothing about it. We recommend you get your Power as high as possible (at least 260) before making the attempt.

Region Chests

Region chests are special loot chests marked on your Destination map. Hunt them down for a bit of minor loot, but more importantly a stack of region reputation tokens. The map icon will be greyed out slightly after initial completion. Chests reset daily so you can farm them for region reputation.

Scannable Objects

Some objects in the world can be scanned with your Ghost to yield a snatch of lore or dialogue. Listen for the soft clicking chime your Ghost makes when one is nearby, then bring up your Ghost and look around for an object marked with a silver mesh. Focus on it and follow the button prompt. No known rewards.

Strikes

Lengthy co-op missions designed for three players, with a matchmaking queue. Accessible via the Strikes playlist node on the Director (map). Unlocks as you progress through the story campaign. Strikes will reward you with Vanguard Tactician tokens which can be traded with Commander Zavala for faction reputation, eventually leading to Legendary loot.

Treasure Maps

Unlocked at the end of the Red War story campaign. Each week, Cayde-6 will offer a selection of treasure maps from a featured Destination – presumably the one featured in the Flashpoint. Purchasing one marks your map with an Ace of Spades symbol indicating the location of one of Cayde-6’s stashes. These contain random loot which can range up to high level Legendaries or even Exotics, and sometimes also include rare lore-related drops you can return to Cayde-6 for rewards.

Trials of the Nine

A weekly PvP challenge which Bungie has yet to detail, but which kicked off on September 13. The name suggests it will be similar to D1’s Trials of Osiris. Endgame loot expected.

World Quests

Each of the four Destinations has a one-time World Quest, which will net you an Exotic weapon upon completion. These cannot be repeated. To unlock a World Quest, you need to complete the Red War story campaign and reach level 20. Upon doing so, view the Destination map and lock for a dark blue icon with a crown on it. This will begin a quest chain with multiple steps, at the end of which you’ll begin a Weapon Quest.

Is there anything we’ve missed in Destiny 2 that you want to know more about? Let us know.

Destiny 2 Activities: how you unlock and complete Flashpoints, Lost Sectors, Milestones, Challenges and more posted first on http://ift.tt/2k0LiGW