I am going to attempt to answer my own question here but realize that I don't really know what the hell I am talking about because I have only got about 9 hours logged in the game and honestly, am mostly just wandering around not really knowing where the hell I am going or what I am meant to be doing.
The game is not very good at explaining what you are supposed to be doing and maybe that is the point. Maybe you are SUPPOSED to be lost and stumble upon things in the game, maybe you are supposed to be overwhelmed in the story missions and then leave them for later.
I know that when I do end up in a team I kind of feel bad about my presence because I am always being carried by the team even though my power ranking or whatever it is called is actually around the same level as theirs. Some might say "git gud" but I don't want to dedicate hundreds of hours to a game that in the end is just a game to me.
Very often in this game you will encounter stuff that you want to do, but can't because you don't own the DLC necessary to make that happen. The game is now Free to Play so this was to be expected. I thought it might be a bit different because the PS-Plus membership gave us one of the most recent DLC's for free - well it is free if you pay for the PS-Plus membership.
Unfortunately a LOT of what I would like to do is behind a paywall and the game is so complicated that if the idea was to entice me to pay for some of the other features they are not doing a very good job of it. How can I feel compelled to buy more into a game when I can't really even wrap my head around what it is that I am supposed to be doing in the game portions that I already own?
I don't like this sort of business model but it is what it is. If you don't like it don't play, right? It's not like I don't have 200 other games that are already sitting in my library gathering dust.
I spend a lot of time wandering around the tower looking for missions or bounties that I can do but mostly to no avail. If I do actually find something that I am allowed to have with the DLC that I already have, it is not very good at explaining what this terminology actually means. For someone that has been playing since launch this would all seem elementary but I only found out by accident while watching a YT video that it was even possible to upgrade the weapons that you already have and like. As far as I know this was never pointed out in game and well, that just seems wrong to me.
But anyway, the point of all this is "can this game be fun for a casual player?" Even though it seems as though I am kind of bagging on the game up to this point simply going to a particular planet and wandering around joining group missions can be kind of fun - even if your contribution to any battle is going to be rather miniscule since any veteran players are going to be doing far more substantial damage than you are.
I have been wandering around some of the planets or areas and joined group events or accidentally joined heroic events and then yes, it is fun. You may not know what the fuck you are doing but basically the objective is pretty much the same no matter which one you do. KILL EVERYTHING. Also, when you die it isn't that big of a deal even if nobody rez's you. You can respawn not far from where the event is taking place and as far as I can tell this is an endless process. It is fun and you will end up with a loot chest at the end of it. So yeah, this is fun in my mind. What isn't fun is when it is over and now you once again don't know what the hell to do.
Story progression is tough to wrap your head around and seriously, the lore and what not goes back so far since this game has been out for years that I don't even know who most of the characters are that they are referring to. Nor do I particularly care.
It does get a bit annoying when character progression is clearly and intentionally placed behind a paywall but well, we all need to relax a bit I guess, these people don't make the games to give them away for free and we should always be leery of any game that claims to be "free to play." There is no such thing as free.
There are THOUSANDS of videos with tips and tricks to master the game but honestly, I don't see myself ever ending up that way. I do get annoyed when the pop up window tells me an objective that I am meant to complete and I have no idea what they are talking about and have to go and do "research" in order to figure it out. What is this? School?
However, I also realize that I am in no way obligated to do any of those things and who knows? After a group event that pops up on most maps continually, you may just get some sort of amazing drop.
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weeeeee! Please hit something
For me, I will continue to play this on the side for a while but I can't really imagine putting in the hours of actually learning all the things that go on in this game. For a casual player, as long as you accept the fact that you are not going to be able to successfully participate in much of the content, you can still wander around and have fun just pew pew-ing stuff for a couple of hours at a time.
I feel like this game will be dead soon so I'm just going to enjoy it every now and then for the time being. If you are just starting Destiny 2 and feel like you are a numb-nuts because you don't know what is going on, just realize that most new players feel exactly the same way as you do and honestly, I don't know how Bungie could make it easier for the userbase. If they streamline progression for new players the risk chasing off the veteran players who buy anything that is thrown their way but at the same time by keeping it complicated they are perhaps chasing off new players as well.
I say get in there and figure it out for yourself.... just know that most of the content is intentionally locked behind a paywall.