Destiny has come such a long way since it first took root in Sept. 2014. But with the next great leap just a few weeks away, Bungie has finally pulled back the veil on how its game will change when The Taken King arrives on Sept. 15.

In a word: dramatically.

The basics

The Taken King is technically an expansion, meaning it drops a whole bunch of new content on top of the existing game. An environment to explore and run Patrol missions in. A new raid. More maps and modes for the competitive multiplayer side of Destiny. A lengthy new story, plus an assortment of other missions and activities that haven't yet been fully detailed.

It's a lot. But there's still plain, old Destiny in there, too. The new stuff is built to be tackled by players at level 25 or higher, so everything that came before is still completely relevant and even necessary if you're a brand new player. But the process of grinding out those 25 levels won't look anything like what first-year players came to know. In short, Destiny: The Taken King is a full-on reboot.

That's not to say total newcomers have to run through all the old stuff first. Everyone who fires up The Taken King gets a special, single-use item called a "Spark of Light." Using it immediately zaps your brand new Guardian up to level 25. Even better, it works for any character below level 25; you don't have to be just starting out.

Newcomers to the game can jump right in and enjoy at least some portion of the new content with friends right away. That's huge. Year One content is worth exploring, but it's essential that first-time players (or those who have been away for a long time) can get in on the brand new group activities.

Leveling up

Destiny's whole approach to character levels has been re-thought. During Year One, a the highest level you could earn from experience points was 20, but it was possible to climb to a "Light Level" as high as 34, provided you had the right armor equipped. The Taken King splits experience levels and Light Levels into separate considerations: the former is a measure of your overall character progression (based on your XP total) and the latter is a reflection of your gear's power.

The experience level cap doubles in The Taken King to 40. When the switch happens on Sept. 15, Bungie's invisible robots will evaluate all the gear possessed by existing players — whether it's equipped, carried or stored in the Vault — and assign you an experience level based on the Light Level you reached before.

Say you managed to grind out enough gear to hit Light Level 34 during Year One. When Year Two dawns, you'll start out at experience level 34. If you only reached Light Level 28, that'll be your new experience level. And if you're anywhere below level 20, your level won't change at all.

Light Level is more malleable, fluctuating as you equip and un-equip different gear. It's the average of all your equipped gear's attack and defense values; it's worth mentioning that Ghost shells and class items both have gear ratings that contribute to your Light Level as well. So if every piece of gear you have equipped has an attack or defense of 170, your Light Level is 170.

Splitting Light Levels and XP levels like this makes it easier for players to reach the level 40 cap while still allowing your gear — the power you've amassed — to have a tangible rating. How that rating factors into The Taken King's content remains to be seen.

Quests and bounties

Bounties are old business in Destiny, but they've evolved for Year Two. For starters, you now have 16 active bounty slots (versus the previous 10). You can also track up to four of those bounties, meaning you get a progress readout on the screen whenever you call up your Ghost. Best of all, completed bounties can be turned in from wherever; you don't need to return to the Tower or the Reef anymore.

There are also more bounties to be had. There are new ones to get from the existing Bounty Tracker, such as a set that tasks you with killing a certain number of enemies using a specific elemental weapon, but there are also new sources for bounties.

On the Crucible side, Lord Shaxx in the Tower now has a set of five bounties that change up every week. Think of these as the PvP take on a Nightfall. Five of Shaxx's bounties change from week to week, but the sixth — "The True Meaning of War" — is always there, and it's completed once you do the other five. That sixth bounty delivers rewards on par with Nightfalls.

The Crucible Quartermaster also has a set of bounties that change from week to week. Since this vendor sells Crucible weapons, the bounties he offers are weapon-specific. The idea is to give PvP fans more of a weekly hook in the same way that Nightfall and Weekly Heroic challenges do for those that prefer PvE.

The Tower Gunsmith also gets an bounty upgrade of sorts. He now offers a set of "Field Test" weapons that are relatively weak but completely free. Grab one and fulfill its requirements — which typically involves using that weapon to kill a certain number of enemies — and you earn reputation with the Gunsmith.

You rank up as you earn rep from Field Tests and Quests (we'll get to that in a minute), which in turn allows you to place Foundry Orders. These are special delivery weapons that arrive the Wednesday (called "Armsday") after the order is placed. The Gunsmith's lineup of available Foundry Orders changes from week to week.

Quests are like a more involved bounty. They can come from a variety of sources and promise any number of rewards. Some of the early ones you'll encounter in The Taken King are necessary to unlock each of the new subclasses. Others offer reputation gains or gear. There are dozens of Quests available in The Taken King, according to Bungie.

Factions and reputation

Factions get a ground-up makeover in The Taken King, and it's a good thing. Year One factions were kind of a bust. You'd ally with whichever one you were wearing the class item for, and any reputation you earned from PvE or PvP activities went toward that faction, even though said faction's gear could only be purchased with PvP currency. It was dumb.

Allying with a faction in The Taken King costs Glimmer (Destiny's currency), and you can't change allegiance until the next weekly reset. Reputation gains are now in addition to PvE/PvP gains, so you rank up factions alongside whatever else. You can even "donate" various materials — armor and weapon crafting supplies, ammo packs, and more — in exchange for boosts to your faction rep.

Reward packages for newly earned faction and Vanguard (PvE)/Crucible (PvP)  ranks have also been beefed up. For starters, you're guaranteed a piece of legendary gear from each one, as well as some Strange Coins, Motes of Light or other crafting/upgrade materials. There's also a higher chance for shaders and other faction-specific cosmetic items to drop.

Folding around all of this is the new Legendary Marks currency system. Vanguard and Crucible Marks were used in Year One to buy higher level gear from different vendors. You could only earn 100 of each in a week, and your "wallet" capped out at 200 for each.

Legendary Marks replace the other two, with any lingering Vanguard/Crucible Marks converting to "commendations" (single-use items that give you a reputation boost). Your wallet still maxes out at 200, but there's no limit on how many Legendary Marks you can earn in a week. Amass 200 and spend them all and you can just go out and earn 200 more.

This is all great news. Factions always felt like an afterthought in Destiny, and these changes seem to make joining one more worthwhile just by virtue of the fact that there's a clearer path to getting their exclusive gear. And Legendary Mark simplify Destiny's sprawling set of currency systems, giving players one less number to keep track of.

Gear

Destiny is fundamentally a game of loot-gathering. You run around and shoot things, growing in power as you amass a collection of valuable gear. That's still the case in The Taken King, but it's been streamlined.

Look no further than Collections. Scattered throughout Destiny's Tower are new, wall-mounted screens that resemble giant iPads. Each one manages a different collection: emblems, shaders, ships, even exotic weapons and armor (though exotics are a special case).

Anything you've collected in each category at some point or another is forever saved and accessible from there, meaning you don't have to tie up precious Vault space with cosmetic items. The emblems, shaders, and ships collections also list which items you don't have, and what you have to do to collect them. It's as much a checklist as it is a storage space.

Exotics work similarly, though certain weapons and armor also have evolved Year Two versions. So you can replicate any Year One exotic you previously collected for a small Glimmer fee, or you can spend a chunk of Legendary Marks on the upgraded Year Two version, if it's available.

Gear upgrades have also been radically rethought. Bungie set out to give Destiny's gear more case-specific uses, so players have more incentive to try new stuff out. Expect to see more optional upgrade trees on your gear, and new utility from Ghost shells and class items, both of which offer upgrades and stat boosts now.

There's also a new "Infusion" process, which allows you to feed a more powerful piece of gear into a less powerful one, souping up its capabilities and keeping it on the level with the game's top-tier loot. It's an evolution of the Etheric Light crafting material from House of Wolves, which allowed players to soup old legendary gear up to the then-current stat caps.

One final note: Vault space. It's bigger. Finally. Weapons and armor both max out at 72 slots apiece; that's double for weapons and slightly more than double for armor. Woo hoo!

There are many other, smaller changes coming in Year Two that Bungie detailed during its Twitch livestream. The stream isn't online just yet, but we'll update this post with a link when Bungie posts it in the forthcoming Weekly Update.

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