The Taken King brings with it a lot of changes not only to the content of the game, but a lot of the mechanics behind the core gameplay. Recognizing these changes along with the new features added is especially important if you’ve been out of the game for a while and haven’t been keeping tabs on the last several months of changes.

To help you with the transition, we’ve put together a list of beginner tips that will hopefully diminish some of the adjustment time.

Leveling Has Changed

 Remember how you leveled before you hit 20? Completing quests, bounties and killing enemies for experience? That’s the new norm as Destiny does away with light levels being the actual level of your character. Now you can level all the way up to the new max of 40 by completing quests and gathering experience.

Light levels still matter though, although they now simply represent the armor and attack totals of your gear and serve as an easy way to tell the overall power of a guardian.

Everything Has Stats Now

Guardian items and ghost shells used to be purely cosmetic items but now they, like everything, have a stat attached to them. Ghosts and guardian items have a defense rating and come pre loaded with stats and perk trees of their own, allowing for even more customization of your character.

New Subclasses

Three new subclasses are being added to the game. The Hunter Nightstalker, Titan Sunbreaker, and Warlock Stormcaller can all be unlocked and ranked up with the purchase of the Taken King expansion.

The Nightstalker specializes in support while wielding a void bow that traps enemies hit by it.

The Stormcaller is an arc damage AoE powerhouse, able to wield chain lightning, frying entire groups of enemies.

The Sunbreaker commands a flaming solar hammer that ham be used to bash or be thrown at opponents.

New Ways to Shop and Upgrade

Several new shops have been added in the tower that will allow you to easily purchase your favorite shaders and other cosmetic items without having to scour the solar system for them.

Exotic weapons also get their own Kiosk that keeps track of the ones you’ve unlocked and lets you reproduce them at will (for a cost of course). These exotic control panels can be found in the Vanguard room at the center of the tower. This is also where you’ll upgrade any of your Year 1 exotics to year 2 levels.

Collecting Legendary Marks

You may have noticed that the Crucible and Vanguard Marks have been replaced by one currency, Legendary Marks. These Legendary Marks are used to purchase legendary gear from the Crucible and Vanguard vendors as well as items from the faction vendors like Dead Orbit.

You can collect them from completing heroic strikes, and taking part in certain crucible matches. Some quests also award Legendary Marks as a reward. In addition to that, year 2 legendary weapons and armor can be disassembled for a small amount of Legendary Marks.

If you still have Vanguard Marks or Crucible Marks on you, they can be turned in via your inventory in exchanged for Vanguard, Crucible and faction reputation.