Destiny 2: Into the Light introduces onboarding skip for new players – Here's how it works

Alongside a whole bunch of other exciting content coming to Destiny 2 with the Into the Light update, Bungie announced an easy way for new players to catch up. After April 9, when making a new character, players will have the option to skip the exhausting onboarding quests to jump right into the latest action.

Destiny 2: Into the Light is a content update set for release on April 9 that bolsters a surprising amount of content. Included is the new Onslaught horde mode, a new social space, returning fan-favorite weapons, three new PvP maps, a resurrection of the Zero Hour and The Whisper Exotic missions, and the reveal of a new Raid-focused activity called Pantheon.

Thankfully, new players won’t have to wade through the early, and frankly dull, Destiny 2 quest content to experience everything Into the Light is adding to the game.

Why would players want to skip Destiny 2 onboarding?

Currently, after players make a new character in Destiny 2, the game spits you out into the Cosmodrome. There, Guardians take their first steps alongside mentor Shaw Han in what consists of several quests around the Patrol Zone and nearby Lost Sectors. The ordeal culminates in your first foray into a Strike to take down the Hive Wizard Navota, adequately introducing players to some core Destiny 2 elements. The only problem is that it’s not all that engaging.

Some of Destiny 2‘s best moments happen during the game’s story or through activities like Raids, Dungeons, and PvP. Onboarding doesn’t have any of this, instead locking players to a single locale and capping the experience off with a forgettable Strike. The sooner players can break free from Shaw Han and dip their toes into a Campaign or one of the activity playlists, the better.

It seems that Bungie caught wind of this and is now offering new players an easy way to break into regular content. 

How to skip Destiny 2 onboarding

Starting April 9, alongside the release of the Into the Light update, players will be given a choice shortly after creating their Guardian and starting the A Guardian Rises quest. You can choose between continuing the tutorial, staying in the Cosmodrome to assist in Shaw Han’s hunt for Navota, or skipping it to head off to the Tower and delve head-first into the real Destiny 2.

While Shaw Han’s onboarding quests offer some paltry rewards and starter Exotics, it’s nothing Guardians can’t find through other means. On top of this, Bungie is even offering some help to prepare players looking to dive headlong into the game. The studio briefly showed off New Light Kits, available to Guardians who skip the tutorial. Each Kit provides a Campaign-ready set of starter gear, an Exotic armor quest, and some abilities for a chosen Light Subclass.

The New Light Kit is a good start for new or returning Destiny 2 players, but the Into the Light update is even more accommodating. The new social space brings back the Gift of the Thunder Gods, something last seen during Season of Plunder. The Gift of the Thunder Gods is a chest filled with a free set of high-level gear, making it even more attractive to just skip right to the meat of the game.