Update: The final mission of The Final Shape released and it was absolute peak. It feels insane to actually have an "ending" to Destiny finally, and they absolutely crushed it. You fight the big bad in a large scale 12-man fireteam mission and then you get a very satisfying conclusion. No giant cliffhanger or anything for once. There's only some allusion to what the next 3 seasons/episodes are going to be about, but there's no more "something big is coming next year" as typical of past Destiny expansions.

Best campaign they've released IMO, and the "final mission" and raid aren't even out for another day.

Server issues on Day 1 aside, Bungie cooked hard with this expansion.

The entire campaign this time is done as a "single go" like a normal video game campaign.
In a typical Destiny 2 experience you would beat a mission, you would teleport back to the tower or whatever camp on the planet you're on, you would open your director to find the next mission, and then teleport to it or drive to it to continue the story. In The Final Shape, you start a mission, you finish it, and then you're given a short rest in a camp to listen to narrative, and then you start the next mission. You can leave and do other stuff if you want, but Bungie even puts a warning if you attempt this that says you should really just do it all in one go. Again you don't have to, but they really treat this like a traditional single player campaign.

Narratively they did quite a good job. The characters are great, their development, thoughts, and feeling are all explored in great detail, and there's a good few heart throb moments. Keith David kills it, though it will still be jarring, and if you didn't care or weren't around for Zavala's side stories for the past few years, you'll think his character change sudden and out of character, but I thought it was good.

In terms of level design, this map is basically a "greatest hits". It's an insane abstract mishmash of many levels that have been significant to the narrative over the years, and is about twice the size as whatever Destiny 2's largest patrol map might be. To top it off, it's full of new activities and has some of the coolest art they've done. A lot of Destiny areas have an "art piece" quality to those don't even compare. Almost every nook, cranny, and angle of the Pale Heart/ Traveler is striking to look at.

As for gameplay, they cooked just as hard here.
The new "Prismatic" class lets you combine all of the other light/dark classes to introduce new synergies, as well as new modifiers to go with them. It ends up making the game feel much more dynamic than it ever has before, and there's also a new sort of "ultimate" ability that buffs all your stats and damage on top allowing you to kill specially shielded enemies. It's very interesting combat for sure.

I'm going to address the Lightfall in the room: it didn't matter.
At all. Lol.
Not a single plot thread or character that originated from Lightfall made it into The Final Shape. The only thing that made it was the "end cutscene" but the end cutscene of Lightfall was literally the first part of The Final Shape's intro cut in half. If I have a single second hand regret, it's that they didn't just skip Lightfall and focus solely on this for 2 years. The content in this expansion is some of the most they've had, at a glance, but it could have been even more.

Overall, this is the first time I've been happy to play Destiny 2 since like... Beyond Light. I never could get into Witch Queen even though I acknowledge the story was pretty good. And I skipped Lightfall of course.

I rate this "Buy it if you like Destiny 2". If you don't like Destiny 2, then don't buy it.
If you think Destiny 2 is okay, then you can wait. It's ok. It'll still be here.
Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

Update: The final mission of The Final Shape released and it was absolute peak. It feels insane to actually have an "ending" to Destiny finally, and they absolutely crushed it. You fight the big bad in a large scale 12-man fireteam mission and then you get a very satisfying conclusion. No giant cliffhanger or anything for once. There's only some allusion to what the next 3 seasons/episodes are going to be about, but there's no more "something big is coming next year" as typical of past Destiny expansions. Best campaign they've released IMO, and the "final mission" and raid aren't even out for another day. Server issues on Day 1 aside, Bungie cooked hard with this expansion. The entire campaign this time is done as a "single go" like a normal video game campaign. In a typical Destiny 2 experience you would beat a mission, you would teleport back to the tower or whatever camp on the planet you're on, you would open your director to find the next mission, and then teleport to it or drive to it to continue the story. In The Final Shape, you start a mission, you finish it, and then you're given a short rest in a camp to listen to narrative, and then you start the next mission. You [i]can[/i] leave and do other stuff if you want, but Bungie even puts a warning if you attempt this that says you should really just do it all in one go. Again you don't [i]have[/i] to, but they really treat this like a traditional single player campaign. Narratively they did quite a good job. The characters are great, their development, thoughts, and feeling are all explored in great detail, and there's a good few heart throb moments. Keith David kills it, though it will still be jarring, and if you didn't care or weren't around for Zavala's side stories for the past few years, you'll think his character change sudden and out of character, but I thought it was good. In terms of level design, this map is basically a "greatest hits". It's an insane abstract mishmash of many levels that have been significant to the narrative over the years, and is about twice the size as whatever Destiny 2's largest patrol map might be. To top it off, it's full of new activities and has some of the coolest art they've done. A lot of Destiny areas have an "art piece" quality to those don't even compare. Almost every nook, cranny, and angle of the Pale Heart/ Traveler is striking to look at. As for gameplay, they cooked just as hard here. The new "Prismatic" class lets you combine all of the other light/dark classes to introduce new synergies, as well as new modifiers to go with them. It ends up making the game feel much more dynamic than it ever has before, and there's also a new sort of "ultimate" ability that buffs all your stats and damage on top allowing you to kill specially shielded enemies. It's very interesting combat for sure. I'm going to address the Lightfall in the room: it didn't matter. At all. Lol. Not a single plot thread or character that originated from Lightfall made it into The Final Shape. The only thing that made it was the "end cutscene" but the end cutscene of Lightfall was literally the first part of The Final Shape's intro cut in half. If I have a single second hand regret, it's that they didn't just skip Lightfall and focus solely on this for 2 years. The content in this expansion is some of the most they've had, at a glance, but it could have been even more. Overall, this is the first time I've been happy to play Destiny 2 since like... Beyond Light. I never could get into Witch Queen even though I acknowledge the story was pretty good. And I skipped Lightfall of course. I rate this "Buy it if you like Destiny 2". If you don't like Destiny 2, then don't buy it. If you think Destiny 2 is okay, then you can wait. It's ok. It'll still be here. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.