At launch I played Destiny pretty casually. I sped through the campaign, did some standard grinding (up to around level 25), and even participated in a Strike or two with whoever happened to be online. And then… I stopped. I moved on to other games.

I’ve never been much for MMOs, and my history with shooters is well documented. Once I’d finished the story, I felt like I’d seen enough. I sent my Hunter off into the great beyond without a second thought.

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Returning to Orbit

“ Some information overload is to be expected, but this was almost mind-boggling.

In hindsight, I think I might have missed the point. I was playing the game in the same way I would have played Bioshock, or Deus Ex. Running straight from mission to mission, occasionally jumping into PvP matches, and all together avoiding the bells and whistles that would carry Destiny through year one and beyond. I didn’t realize at the time that Destiny is more about the long game, and ultimately about the love of the grind.Despite my general ennui for Destiny, it seemed like everyone around me wouldn’t shut up about it. Each new raid and every expansion seemed to bolster the conversation around the office. I started to get the distinct impression that I was really missing out on something special. So, with the building fervor around The Taken King’s I very quickly discovered that I was in way over my head.

Looking across the landscape was familiar enough, with no major cosmetic changes to wrap my head around. Although, admittedly, after looking over some of my coworker’s shoulders, my guardian looked pretty lame. I was rocking fairly standard gear, and an extremely low light level. But, I was committed to finding out just what I missed on my first go around. Figuring there was no time like the present, I jumped into the new campaign content.

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“ Neither of these folks are pros, but to me they sounded like scholars.

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As someone that skipped the first two expansions, the story made zero sense. And I’m a Metal Gear fan. This is probably a given, as I hadn’t exactly been keeping up. Who’s Crota? What’s an Oryx? How do you Dreadnaught? I noticed a few changes, but the core mechanics felt relatively unchanged: shoot dudes, hop around, do Destiny stuff. I didn’t feel completely out of place until I joined up with a Fireteam.On an overwhelmingly positive note, I did shoot up about five levels in the few hours that I played the first night. Progress! It felt good, like I was finally playing the game correctly. When I jumped back in on the second night, I felt like maybe I was headed in the right direction. I still had about a million unanswered questions, so I spent a fair amount of time just wandering around the Tower, talking to NPCs, doing goofy dances with other players and basically trying to piece together what I had missed over the course of the last few expansions.Playing the game itself was a bit frustrating, as my levels were so low that it was tough to find people to play with that I wouldn’t see me as a burden. I continued to slog through the story missions, solo, and try to climb the level ladder. Then I started to formulate a theory.

For Love of the Grind

Destiny is a very dichotomous game. It’s easily accessible and insanely complicated at the same moment. Yes, fairly inexperienced characters like myself can jump in and start grinding with ease, but if you haven’t been keeping up with it, be prepared to hit the books. There are a lot of little things that need serious explanation, but aren’t presented in a way that’s simple to suss out. I found myself poring over wikis and guides over the course of the next few days to try and figure out just what I was trying to do.

I started playing a lot. I was staying up way too late to complete just one more mission. I had it bad for a game that two weeks ago, I couldn’t have cared less about. But ultimately that’s the thing with Destiny. Each time you play, it dangles the carrot just out of reach. You start to say things like “If I play another mission or two, I can gain another level and unlock that awesome sniper rifle.” And when you do that, you realize that another couple missions will net you some sweet armor and before you know it, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and even your cat is like “dude, go to bed.”

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Ultimately, I still feel like don’t know enough about this game. I have dozens of items and doodads that I don’t understand, but at this point I accept that this is part of Destiny’s charm. I want to know what those things do. I want to participate in a conversation about the The Iron Banner and feel like I at least have the tiniest clue as to what’s being discussed. I want to have a righteous looking Guardian that can wreck shop and that other people are excited to have on their Fireteam. But for now, all I have is the grind. Fortunately for me and countless other Destiny players, the grind is good.

Zachary Ryan is a Video Producer at IGN. He likes Zelda, burritos, and guitars. Find out when he’s eating a sandwich by following him on Twitter @ZachariusD.