* Opening Cinematic is narrated by our new Ghost (Nolan North)
* Cinematic shows the Awoken waging war against Oryx with both Prince Uldren and the Queen involved in the fight.
* Taken enemies wield brand new effects such as Taken Captains wearing solar shields and throwing out orbs of darkness that blind, Knights fling aoe scorch, Centurions shoot tracking rounds, Wizards summon thralls, Psions split into two, Vandals deploy defender like shields that allow them to shoot out and heal, Phalanxes shoot projectiles from the shield, and thralls teleport on the battlefield.
* New world objects exist that can be scanned by your Ghost and give useful information and lore, can even start a dialogue between your ghost and the Vanguard, things like statues, weird worms, etc.
* All items will offer perk customization including weapons, armor, class items, and even your ghost!
* Crucible has improved matchmaking and a new mercy rule that will end a match early when misbalanced.
* New system in place that allows you to sacrifice pieces of gear to empower others from the same slot, may be some kind of transmog system (very few details)
* New quest lines, Eris Morn gives a quest that leads to the rediscovery of a forgotten weapon type.
* New class quest lines, including quests for the new subclasses and added quest lines for the older sub classes that introduce you to them and give some back story.
* Gunsmith has his own reputation meter now, lets you test prototype weapons in the field, with higher rep you can order a weapon once a week that will be delivered on Wednesday with a random set of perks.
* Crucible and Vanguard Marks have been consolidated into "Legendary Marks".
* Class armor materials have been removed, consolidated into one source that is shared between all three classes.
* Can now pledge allegiance to a crucible faction, one at a time only. No longer requires wearing a class item. Can also turn in Motes, Weapon Parts, Armor Mats, synths, etc to gain reputation.
* New computer console near the outfitter that allows you to pick a shader you want, and also displays all the shaders you have yet to acquire and how to get them, same system is in place for emblems.
* Vault space is still an issue, Luke Smith is quoted saying "We are exploring options for getting stuff out of players inventories via these kiosks that we've played around the tower, but we're still working towards a solution that we're excited about."
* At least a dozen new exotic weapons, and at least a half dozen armor exotics per class.
* New Auto Rifle exotic shoots blasts of lightning, sniper rifle that blinds nearby enemies on a precision hit, or the new pulse rifle called "No Time To Explain" that fits the role of a high level strangers rifle that refuels bullets directly to the magazine on precision hits.
* New exotic called Sleeper Simulant, Fusion rifle that sits in the heavy slot and acts as a rail gun, over penetrates and bounces off walls, upgrades improve the bounce count.
* Many exotics are tied to quests, one example requires that you explore the dreadnaught and find hidden pieces throughout.
* Vanguard Mentor gives you your new subclass quest
* New Crucible Modes are Rift, Mayhem, and Zone Control which is just control with kills not counting towards the score.
* New dedicated quest line that introduces players to the Crucible and the respective NPCs like Shaxx.
* Simpler bounties have been made, with more difficult bounties being available and even fireteam based bounties for pvp. Trials now has bounties associated with it as well as new weekly bounties for the crucible which upon completion give access to a sixth weekly and challenging bounty that can reward a legendary or exotic.
* First act of the story is 8 "Lengthy" story missions, with the second act includes additional story missions, strikes, exploration, triggered public events, weapon quests that all lead to the introduction of the new raid called "King's Fall".
* Quests in act 2 revolve around the Taken War, includes quests line Unsealed Paradox which returns you to the Vault of Glass and reveals the fate of Praedyth.
* Presence of "raid-light" mechanics in strikes, Bungie is hesitant to make strikes too complicated due to griefing.
