I've been following Destiny closely for about a year now. More recently I've become active on our Reddit community Reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame and Bungie.net. I also follow the podcasts such as Guardian Radio and PrimeCast. These are some good details, but I don't feel like it gives the just of Destiny, I'll give it a shot myself.
What is Destiny?
Destiny is an upcoming game from the makers of Halo: Combat Evolved-Halo Reach, Bungie. Destiny is described as a "shared-world shooter". In foremost, Destiny is an action packed First-Person Shooter, but it adds MMO elements from games such as World of Warcraft where you come across others in the world you go across at random, also some elements such as quests (strikes) and raids. Destiny also uses some RPG elements from games like Borderlands with progressional systems for weapons, gears, and the Destiny character's (Guardians) abilities called supers and their builds. Another RPG element is the ability to customize everything to you liking.
The game revolves around a fireteam which is a group of 3 Guardians that play together in whatever game mode they are in. Each Guardian chooses to be a certain class: Titan, Warlock, or Hunter and certain race: Human, Exo, or Awoken.
Game Modes
Destiny includes 6 different game modes, each designed for different styled players.
Campiagn-This is the same game mode that everyone enjoys in modern day FPS games except that you can go through it with 2 other players and that it will be a bit more open-world than CoD or BF.
Strikes-These are an equivalent of quests or missions from MMORPG games. You can do them yourself or with 2 others. They are described to last around 15-45 minutes.
Patrol-This is an "explore" option to go into the open-world and just do whatever you want. You can destroy groups of the fallen or hive or any other enemy and explore for hidden loot in areas set aside just for the explorers. Kind of gives me a Fallout sort of feel.
Raids-These make for some of the hardest AI content in game. They are like the raids in any other MMO being end game content that usually takes a while to complete, in Destiny being described as AT LEAST 4 hours to beat. You can go through raids in groups of 6 Guardians.
Public Events-These include multiple fireteams playing to defeat a boss or objective that a single fireteam could not take down alone. They are triggered randomly inside of a strike or patrol.
PvP-this is Bungie's claim to fame. It's competitive multiplayer. It will be two teams of six players facing it off to win the objective of the PVP mode they are playing. There isn't much info about PVP yet, but the full reveal of it is coming at E3.
I want to add this because it's never really touched upon in mainstream media covering Destiny. THIS GAME IS ABSOLUTELY HUGELY VAST with the amount of playable area as well as the number of weapons, gear, and abilities. The possibilities will be endless of what you want to do.
I didn't really touch upon the lore or many details at all for that matter. If anyone wants some more information or has questions feel free to ask.