Patrols:Patrol scenarios amount to open world explanation with an assortment of simple, repeatable quests thrown in. This is where much of Destinys MMO-style leveling grind plays out. Only instead of hunting boars in a forest for penny ante XP bumps, youre blasting moon wizards in the face. The key is to watch for flashing green beacons; walk up to one and activate it to receive any one of a number of quick-hit missions: Kill a certain amount of enemies, take on a boss, collect some amount of a particular resource. Finish one and you can grab another simply by finding the next beacon.

Strikes: Strikes are more involved, with more of a cooperative play focus. Theyre like story missions on steroids, with bigger, badder enemies, large bosses, and a level of challenge thats specifically designed to test three-player fireteams. You cant tackle these solo; try to start one without friends in your fireteam and the game tosses you into a matchmaking lobby. The time investment is greater with a Strike, but so too are the potential rewards.

Crucible mode: Theres also Crucible, which is Destinys player-vs-player mode. Early on, youll only have access to the basic point capture mode, Control. There are three locations on the map that either team can take control of by standing close to it. The team that holds the most points for the longest period of time wins. If youre familiar with Call of Dutys Domination mode, Crucibles Control mode is that. Exactly that. Once you play a full Control match, the next mode unlocks; play that to unlock the third mode, then play the third mode to unlock the fourth.

Titan:
Relying more on armor that can withstand The Darkness and its powerful array of weapons, the Titan can be referred to as "The Strong One" because of its appearance in armor and its subclass skill tree variants. The Titan has two sub-classes: Striker and Defender. The Striker can often be left alone to deal with his adversaries himself using a powerful array of grenades and melee variants. The Striker's Super, Fist of Havoc, allows the player to release a ground smash killing anything within its devastating range. The Defender is the defensive sub-class providing valuable support to their allies, although they are more than capable of fighting in difficult situations. The Super is a protective spherical shield described as the Ward of Dawn that protects allies inside of it, but comes at the cost of not being able to fire outwards at enemies from within.

Warlock:
The Warlock class focuses primarily on recovery and will begin regaining their health and shield very quickly once they've stopped taking damage. The Warlock's two sub-classes are Voidwalker and Sunsinger. The Voidwalker subclass utilizes Void damage and their Super: Nova Bomb. Activating Nova Bomb launches an orb of Void at enemies and detonates on impact. The Sunsinger subclass utilizes Solar damage and their Super: Radiance. Activating Radiance makes the player's abilities (grenades and melee abilities) more potent and regenerates at a significantly faster rate. Warlocks with the right upgrade in the skill tree can also use their Sunsinger Super to revive themselves after death.

Hunter:
The Hunter class is the quickest of the three classes, derived from its alignment with Agility. This class is focused primarily on run and gun style combat. The Hunter is able to seamlessly transition between melee and close quarters combat, which makes the hunter a very good choice for multiplayer in the Crucible game type.[13] The Hunter's two sub-classes are Gunslinger and Bladedancer. The Gunslinger uses Solar damage and their Super: Golden Gun. Activating Golden Gun summons a golden revolver that deals tremendous damage, at the cost of only having three rounds. Gunslingers are also the only subclass with skill tree upgrades that affect their weapons such as increased reload or stability with precision kills. The Bladedancer uses Arc damage and their Super: Arc Blade. Activating Arc Blade charges the player's knife with Arc Light and deals large amounts of damage over a short period of time. Bladedancers have a unique invisibility ability which allows them to almost completely disappear for a short amount of time. This can be activated by crouching and staying still for a short amount of time, during their super and/or when they use their melee modifier (depending on skill tree) and renders the AI enemies unable to see them. However, human opponents can still spot invisible Bladedancers easily in PvP because of their shimmering translucency distorting the enemy's view.

Destiny features a traditional leveling system, with earned experience points pushing you toward the next level, and the next, and so on until you reach the level 20 cap.

After hitting 20, you can only advance by receiving gear that contains "light"

Firstly, the total amount of light that an item can have is limited by its quality.
Rare items can max out at 15 Light Points (Blue Items)
Non-Raid Legendary items can max out at 27 Light Points (Purple Items)
Raid Legendary items can max out at 30 Light Points (Purple Items from Vault of Glass)
Exotic Items can max out at 30 Light Points (Yellow Items)

Here is the amount of light required for each level:
Level Light Required Level Light Required
LVL.20 - 0
LVL.21 - 21
LVL.22 - 32
LVL.23 - 43
LVL.24 - 54
LVL.25 - 65
LVL.26 - 76
LVL.27 - 87
LVL.28 - 98
LVL.29 - 109
LVL.30 - 120