Goldfish have terrible memories, it's often said... that by the time they swim around the tank once... everything beyond that... becomes brand new, swimming in circles. They forget everything. For years people pined about D1.... remaster D1, leveling mattered in D1 (did it?)... the progression was so much better. So, Bungie gave it you. EoF leveling and progression is modeled after D1 leveling and progression but simplified. If you don't buy the sparks... guess how long it took to hit the pre-requisite of 40? 16 hrs. Then Gear Score came after... and guess how many engrams it took? Yes Engrams... but it was split up per threshold.... Blue to Purple... to hit 390, then you needed exotics to go from 390 to 400. The fastest way to level required stacking your vault with engrams and collecting engrams to level. So how many engrams without dupes did it take? And exactly what was leveling like in D1? I found a guide that breaks it down better than I could remember, let's go through it together: [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/j9ghsn/road_to_400_light_level_in_2020_for_those_who_are/]D1 Leveling Guide 2020[/url] [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CviUg6aWAAALedV?format=jpg&name=small]D1 Leveling Infographic[/url] [i]"So step 1, you gotta hit level 40! "Duh..." Do all those pesky story missions, replay strikes, use a "Spark of Light" level 40 boost, do whatever you gotta do to hit level 40! That's your main goal. If you are level 40, Congratulations! Keep reading The second step is GRINDING all the Rare, Legendary and Exotic engrams! BUT DO NOT OPEN THEM!!! My favorite method of getting Rare and Legendary engrams is hopping onto Venus Patrol, going over to Ishtar Cliffs, and getting on top of a high ledge next to a Vex gate and a cave. Once there, jump straight up which triggers a spawn area inside that cave next to the water. Dreg, Vandals, Shanks and Servitors will spawn in random sequences and run out of the cave in a few randomized sets. STAY UP THERE and kill these enemies. Then repeat. Jump up to reset the spawn. Fallen will drop Uncommon, Rare and Legendary engrams. As an added bonus, this is also a great way to grind House Banners (for the cryptarch), Glimmer, Ammo Synths and for completing any Bounties you may have! Bounties will offer rewards so don't forget to pick those up! As for Exotic engrams, you will need to purchase "Three of Coins" (3oC) for 7 "Strange Coins" from Xur on the weekends (Friday and Saturday). Buy As Many As You Can! Completing Prison Of Elders and completing Strikes is my preferred method for obtaining strange coins. DO NOT BUY EXOTICS from Xur because they are NOT light level based. Xur's Exotics cap between 150 (legacy) to 350... Unless you want THAT exotic, it'll be a waste of strange coins to purchase them. Start a strike that has a boss, pop a single 3oC before the boss, and pray to the RNG gods. 3oC is stackable up to three times, but I generally avoid popping more than one. Now, about Ultras. The Dreadnaught Patrol has a secret Ultra Knight inside the Cabal ship. (We all know about this guy) Pop a 3oC and kill him! Heads Up!! Don't hunt down the same boss back to back, as it actually decreases your chances of an Exotic dropping each time! Get around and wack other bosses! Easier ones and harder ones including Taken Zealots. Take your time getting those exotics -because you kinda have to... All Siva Crisis Strikes and Siva Heroic Strikes have an Ultra at the end so farm exotics off these. To make it easier, do the NON-HEROIC Strikes on the East of the Strike playlists for a more solo-able experience. ALL Public Patrol events such as Warsat, Target Eliminator, Fallen Walker, Extraction Crews and Vex Sacrifices offer nice rewards for completing GOLD TIER so every chance you get, try those out! SAVE THE ENGRAMS, Save them, Save them!!! Stash them in your vault. Transfer them onto your other characters. Please SAVE them until you have no more room!!! Hoard them!!!!!!! Look, I know you'll be tempted to open them, especially the Exotics, but please just wait! There are 9 item slots: Helmet, Arms, Chest, Legs, Class item, Primary, Special and Heavy (ghost and artifact slot can't hold engrams) Here is some quick math: You have 9 item slots, times 9 potential engram spots, equals 81 engrams per character, times 3 characters equals 243 engrams ...plus however many engrams you're putting into your vault which can hold an additional 108 Weapon engrams and 108 Armor engrams, for a combined amount of 216 engrams totalling your potential amount to be 459 engrams all together! (Assuming your vault is empty) Prioritize engrams! THIS IS LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP and I can't stress this part enough... ONLY OPEN THEM UP ONE BY ONE!!! Start by opening Rare engrams first but you'll wanna do this strategically. Find your lowest light level item, such as a primary or chest, and open the engram for THAT item. You'll get an item with a higher light level and you'll want to equip that immediately. Then move on to your next lowest light level item. Maybe this time it's the legs or your heavy weapon. The most important thing is to open up ONE engram at a time under your lowest light level item. Eventually, you'll hit the light level cap of 385. After your level has hit 385, go ahead and crack open ALL your blue engrams. NOTE: There is a chance that a Legendary item can pop out from Rare engrams, and if that happens, Equip It Immediately! Doing so will speed up the next step!! STOP IMMEDIATELY when your Ghost or Artifact becomes under-leveled. It will happen. Continuing To Open Engrams Will Be A Waste!! From here, we'll take a break from opening engrams. (You WILL need to come back to this step!) Obtaining new ghosts and artifacts is fairly simple. My easiest method is EITHER completing Court of Oryx with an Antiquidated Rune, the Legendary variant OR completing Archon's Forge with a Perfected Siva Offering, also the legendary variant. If you have extra Motes Of Light and Materials, stop by Dead Orbit, Future War Cult or New Monarchy and rank up with Faction Material Exchange Donations. Eric's Morn also has a reputation that can be leveled as well. When leveling up through any of these, choose your reward wisely. AVOID CHROMA! Choose Armor or Weapons based on what you need to increase, for example, if your weapons are a lower light level than your armor, choose the Weapons Reward! You will also run a chance of getting a Ghost from one of these methods! Once your Ghost and Artifact are leveled, continue strategically opening the Rare engrams until you hit 385! REPEAT AS NECESSARY Once your light reaches 385, start opening the Legendary engrams in the exact same way as the Rare engrams. Legendary engrams have a light level cap of 390 so remember, Don't Let Your Ghost And Artifact Weigh You Down! If you run into the same problem, repeat the steps above to obtain new Ghosts and Artifacts. Legendary Siva offerings and Runes OR Factions, Vanguard or Crota's Bane. In a similar way that Rare engrams can drop Legendary items, Legendary engrams can drop Exotic items! If this is the case, equip the Exotic OR infuse your Legendary items with those Exotic items. Don't Worry, exotic items can be reclaimed later at the tower! Your main focus is strategically opening engrams under the lowest light leveled item! Remember, don't let your Ghost and Artifact weigh you down! Continue using Offerings or Runes to acquire higher level Artifacts and Ghosts! You'll need to repeat this step with Exotic engrams as well. Legendary engrams cap at 390, so once all of your gear is there, open up the last of your legendary engrams and pray for an Exotic item! Between 390 and 400, typically only Exotics will level you up. However, using Skeleton Keys at the end of a Strike, leveling up your Faction and Vanguard, and completing Legendary Offerings and Runes will drop Legendary gear that isn't light level capped, meaning you can acquire Legendary items 390+. Artifacts, Ghosts and ALL other gear will typically drop according to your light level. Certain strikes offer certain rewards, for instance, using a skeleton key on the 'Shield Brothers' Strike can drop a Primary Weapon or Titan Arms! Despite not being a Titan, You can still infuse your equipped armor with the Titan Arms! You can find a list of Strike items that drop for which Strike online. If you fall short of 400, simply repeat the previous process until your light is 400"![/i] Edit: I received a cease and desist demanding a retraction from attorneys representing the Goldfish Collective. Apparently, I misrepresented the facts. A 3 second memory is a myth perpetuated by the traveling carnival industry to excuse their moral turpitude in using Goldfish as prizes in County Fairs. So, I will correct the record. 6 months. My example still stands. 😇👍💠 It took 100s of engrams... btw, that's why the guide explains minmaxing your inventory to hold them all. It took well over 100 hrs... anywhere from 110-170 to get 3 characters to 400 without boosts. I tallied about 100 for EoF minus ****in' around. It took me about 20-30 to hit 400, It took me 60-70 in under 3 weeks to go from 400-450. Sub-optimally for a lot of it... well, 400-410ish... then I buckled down. So, 80-100 hrs. Let's say 100. I bet you, if I knew what I know now... I could make that 70 at least, no problem. And I'm not in a clan. 134 prime drops it takes right now, less than a month for the hardest part. Less than, by best estimates... 10% of what it took in D1. For some people it took months... By the way it's all we had after launch... we got nerfs and balance changes, and Eververse driven community events... that's it. We leveled, after we burnt through the content... that was the game. And as it is now... some people did it in a month, some took 3-4 months.