The first Destiny level 30 character

Destiny's initial level cap comes in at level 20, to which developer Bungie has said in the past that's when the real game really begins. Players can further increase their levels last 20 by finding and equipping special (and rare) equipment that increases their Light level, which is required to tackle Destiny's later missions like its first raid, the Vault of Glass.

Many players have criticized Destiny's leveling mechanics for how its end game content is simply a grind, and the infrequency of good loot drops makes it feel like an even bigger chore. Recently, exploits like the "Loot Cave" - a cave players stand outside of and shoot wave after wave of respawning enemies to farm item drops - have been found that make the post-level 20 climb easier to manage, but it's still a bit of a tedious process. This is why the news that someone has already reached level 30 is very impressive; even more so when you consider that Destiny has only been out for two weeks.

American player Mark Edward Neace Jr. is the world's first person to hit level 30 in Destiny. Known as BGTV N3AC3Y on Xbox Live and Bungie.net, N3AC3Y reached level 30 as an Exo Male Hunter, though it's not his only Guardian. In fact, N3AC3Y has three Guardian characters in total, with the other two being a level 20 Human Male Hunter and a level 21 Exo Female Hunter.

According to Destinydb, 107 hours 15 minutes and 22 seconds was spent playing Destiny and leveling to 30. Approximately 25% of his play time was spent in the competitive multiplayer Crucible mode, while the previously mentioned Vault of Glass raid took 13 hours 6 minutes 40 seconds. You may recall that the first team to finish the raid, PrimeGuard, took nearly 11 hours. And despite the fact that 107 hours sounds like a lot of time (because it is), N3AC3Y didn't pull all-nighters trying to hit the level cap. A tweet from Tier1Destiny, his clan, explains that he didn't nothing out of the ordinary, but still managed to reach level 30 first.

[HTML1]

On Twitter, Mark Edward Neace Jr. celebrated his level 30 accomplishment, which was met with many kudos from fellow Destiny players and even the Cryptarch parody account:

[HTML2]

Expect other Destiny players to soon hit the level 30 milestone, if some haven't already. With Bungie adding in more and more content post-launch, like "The Queen's Wrath," players will have many more opportunities to level up. Hopefully it becomes easier over time.

Sources: Eurogamer, Destinydb, Mark Edward Neace Jr