5 Things You Should Know Before The Destiny 2 Beta Release

After months of talk and teases, the Destiny 2 beta is nearly upon us. In just a few short days, gamers playing on PS4 and Xbox One will be able to get an early look at the game. With a game as big as Destiny 2, there are quite few things about this beta to cover, so here are five things you need to know before you dive in.

Bad news, PC Players: at first, the Destiny 2 beta will only be available for PS4 and Xbox One. You'll still get to check the game out before it launches, but the beta won't arrive on PC until late August. No word on when, exactly, the beta will be available, but hopefully that information comes around the bend shortly.

In any case, if you pre-ordered the game, you'll be to hop into the beta next week. PlayStation 4 users actually get in on the action a day early, with the beta kicking of on PSN on July 18 at 10 AM Pacific. Xbox One players, on the other hand, will gain access precisely one day later, on July 19 at 10 AM Pacific.

The beta will wrap up on July 23 at 9 PM Pacific. This means that PS4 players will have just a hair over five days to play the beta, while Xbox One users will have four. Importantly, this timeline also includes the weekend, so for those of you with better things to do during the week (like work), you'll still be able to get in some quality time with Destiny 2.

If you're not so sure on Destiny 2 but you still want to participate in the beta, then good news: you can still play without having pre-ordered. Obviously, Bungie and Activision want you to pre-order, so as a result, the time you can spend with the beta will be limited to just July 21 at 10 AM Pacific until the beta ends for everyone on July 23. While that's only two days, it's better than nothing, and it gives you an entire weekend to figure out if Destiny 2 will be worth your hard-earned cash.

Though the beta won't be underway until next week, PS4 and Xbox One users can begin pre-loading today. Once 10 AM Pacific rolls around, you'll be able to pre-load the beta from Xbox Live or PSN. You'll need your beta key in order to pre-load, so if you didn't pre-order, you'll need to wait until the beta expands to cover everyone (unless, of course, you received a beta key through a giveaway).

There seems to be quite a bit of content included with the Destiny 2 beta. In it, you'll be able to take the three new sub-classes – the Dawnblade Warlock, the Sentinel Titan, and the Arcstrider Hunter – for a spin through the opening story mission called "Homecoming" and two Crucible missions named "Countdown" and "Control." The Inverted Spire will be the sole cooperative strike on offer, and when you've completed all of that, you'll be able to hang out in The Farm, which serves as Destiny 2's social area.

Destiny 2 represents something of new beginning for the series, which got off to a bit of a rocky start thanks to some of the missteps Bungie made in the early days of the first game. Because of that, expect to see a lot of people to be playing this beta throughout next week. Will you be one of them? Head down to the comments section and let us know!