The Destiny 2 community isn't very good at talking to free to play players, and there are many misconceptions around what is and isn't paywalled. The current tutorial, A Guardian Rises, does not do a good job of showing what, exactly, you can do for free. Quite a lot of activities are paywalled. These are free to play:

• All light abilities (Arc, Solar, and Void).
  
• Free roam on the destinations. Cosmodrome, EDZ, Nessus, Dreaming City, Moon, Europa, Savathun's Throne World, and Neomuna. Includes lost sectors, public events both heroic and regular, patrols, and any other activities accessible through the open world such as Blind Well or Terminal Overload.
  
• Bounty access in the Tower, Xur's Treasure Hoard, Cosmodrome, EDZ, and Nessus
  
• Vanguard Ops playlist (Some nightfalls are paywalled. See below for details)
  
• Gambit
  
• Crucible (all except the endgame mode Trials of Osiris, which requires the latest DLC)
  
• Ritual weapon, new one added each season (currently: Reckless Endangerment. Old ones are in the Monument to Lost Lights)
  
• Weapon crafting in the Enclave on Mars. See my weapon crafting guide for details.
  
• Dares of Eternity
  
• Shadowkeep and Beyond Light campaigns
  
• First 2 missions of Witch Queen and Lightfall. Beginning of The Final Shape campaign.
  {*} Onslaught
  
• Vault of Glass and King's Fall raids
  
• Prophecy dungeon
  
• Holiday events
  
• Up to Rank 6 in Guardian Ranks. This is enough to unlock most gameplay-relevant features. I am unable to determine what armor mods you are able to get, due to starting this game prior to the Guardian Ranks system.

Through the Vanguard Ops playlist, you can access the full list of strikes and battlegrounds (battlegrounds are former paid season pass activities that were later turned into strikes). However, you can only launch the following ones directly from the map or as a nightfall (scroll down for more info on what a nightfall is):

• The Devils' Lair
  
• The Disgraced
  
• Fallen S.A.B.E.R.
  
• Lake of Shadows
  
• The Arms Dealer
  
• Insight Terminus
  
• Exodus Crash
  
• Europa, Mars, and Moon Battlegrounds

Prior to Shadowkeep, the maximum power level was paywalled. From now on, everyone can reach the maximum power level. A lot of the means of getting higher power gear will be unavailable to you, but you can still get there. For a complete list and explanation of how power level works, click here.[www.blueberries.gg]

Located in the tower, this kiosk contains items that used to come from quests, but whose quests have been removed for one reason or another. You have access to all the legendary items, which came from ritual weapon quests from strikes, crucible, and gambit in years past. You have access to the Red War exotics. For a complete list of which exotics are free to play, see the New Light sections in my exotic guide.


A horde mode activity in Sorrow's Harbor on the Moon. You can alternate two of the patrols that don't require you to leave the area for some extra experience/materials. There are three bosses that rotate daily. Required for some Ada-1 bounties, and a good spot to get a lot of kills.

Upon successful completion, you can get some unique guns. Heretic from the ogre boss, Blasphemer from the vex boss, and Apostate from the fallen boss.

Located through the large cliffside doorway in the Dreaming City, this is a horde mode roughly comparable to Altars of Sorrow. However, it is less convenient to get to. It's a better spot if you need a lot of ability kills, since certain enemies drop Harmony orbs which boost ability regeneration rate. Bosses and enemy types rotate on a three week cycle, from scorn to hive and finally to taken. There are three tiers, and upon successful completion of tier 3, tier 4 can be started.

Before the December 7, 2021 update, Blind Well only dropped a random Dreaming City legendary item on your first clear per week. Now, it can be farmed endlessly for Dreaming City legendary armor and guns. This is the Reverie Dawn armor set and the weapons Tigerspite, Waking Vigil, Vouchsafe, Retold Tale, Twilight Oath, Sleepless, and Abide the Return.

An open world pve event on Neomuna. At the end there are two chests. One requires a key to open and the keys are probably Lightfall only, but I am unable to confirm that. The unlocked chest drops loot from the world pool.

An in depth look at what new things added on December 7, 2021 are paywalled or free can be found here[www.bungie.net]. Dares of Eternity is a good place to farm for various items.[docs.google.com] Dares of Eternity is a six player matchmade activity.

Each day, one lost sector is available in Legend and Master difficulty. You start these higher difficulties from a flag at the entrance to the lost sector. For it to appear, you must have opened the lost sector chest before, and be at the power level soft cap. However, the required power level to actually complete the lost sector is a bit higher, listed on the map marker.

If you go in solo and kill all the champions, these have a decent chance of dropping an exotic armor in a particular slot. The drop chance isn't exactly known, but is estimated to be around 25%. However, you cannot get any of the lost sector exclusive armors.

For the currently active higher difficulty lost sectors, see Today In Destiny[www.todayindestiny.com]. It is often a little off at the start of a season, so as a backup, here is a rotation spreadsheet.[docs.google.com]

You can only do nightfall versions of free to play strikes. All strikes are available in the random strike playlist, but only some can be launched free to play directly from the map or as a nightfall. To check, go to the planet map where the strike takes place and hover over the icon. It will say if it is paywalled.

1 to 3 people, lower difficulties have matchmaking. Grandmaster nightfalls are some of the most challenging content available. Nightfalls of the highest difficulty you can comfortably complete are great for farming enhancement prisms, ascendant shards, exotic armor, and certain guns that only drop from nightfalls.

1 to 3 people, no matchmaking. Dungeons are significantly more difficult solo than they are with even just one teammate. This dungeon can be farmed repeatedly for loot, but you can only get items that you have had drop before. You have a chance of new items your first completion per week per character class.

These are made for 6 people, no matchmaking. Raids drop loot once per character class per week, but there is a console at the end where you can use Spoils of Conquest to purchase raid loot.The only other use for spoils of conquest is to buy items that used to come from raids in the Monument to Lost Lights.

The free raids are Vault of Glass, King's Fall, and Crota's End.

Do whatever you can from each seasons' paid content. Inconsistent amounts of are available free from each season pass. Sometimes you can get an impressive amount of paywalled loot. In the Quests tab, look to see which seasonal challenges you can complete. Some will be free to play, and these are a great source of xp and bright dust.

Reach rank 35 in the season pass, because after the season ends, that exotic goes behind a paywall!

Be sure to do the intro to each DLC, just to unlock the open worlds and other features such as weapon crafting.

If you want to know more about paid content, see my steam guide here.