What are the different currencies and how are they earned

destiny

Destiny has a number of different currencies available (vanguard marks, crucible marks, motes of light, strange coins), can someone provide a list of all of them, how they are earned, and which are most "effective" meaning high purchasing power versus time to earn.

Best Answer

NOTE! This answer was accurate(-ish) when it was posted but recent patches have changed a lot of the things posted here. Please seek out updated sources of this information!

Glimmer

Earned by:

  • Killing majors or ultras (mobs with yellow health bars)
  • Dismantling gear (weapons or armor)
  • Reward from Cryptarch from turning in items you pick up during missions (House Banners from Fallen, etc.)
  • You can use an item corresponding to the type of mob you're killing and get extra glimmer from every mob killed for a short period of time (10 minutes)
    • Fallen - Ether Seeds
    • Hive - Black Wax Idol
    • Vex - Blue Polyphage
    • Cabal - Resupply Codes
    • These items stack with killing majors or ultras, in which case you will get both the bonus from killing the "yellow mob" and the bonus from having the corresponding item active
  • Completing missions
  • Completing PvP sessions
  • Opening random chests

Spent on:

  • Buying items from various vendors in the tower, including weapons and armor, replenishment items, emblems, etc.
  • Upgrading gear (some upgrade slots require glimmer, others require glimmer + items)

Destinypedia: Glimmer

Vanguard Marks

Note: You need to be level 18 or higher before you start earning these.

Earned by:

  • Completing public events
  • Completing strike missions
  • Completing your first public event each day (gives 2)

Spent on:

  • Buying gear from some vendors in the tower, level 20 legendaries, ground vehicles, etc.

Note: You can only earn a maximum of 100 between weekly resets (Tuesdays, 9am UTC if I'm not mistaken).

Destinypedia - Vanguard Marks

Crucible Marks

Note: You need to be level 18 or higher before you start earning these.

Earned by:

  • Completing PvP sessions

Spent on:

  • Buying gear from the crucible vendors in the tower, level 20 legendaries, ground vehicles, emblems, etc.

Note: You can only earn a maximum of 100 between weekly resets (Tuesdays, 9am UTC if I'm not mistaken).

Destinypedia - Crucible Marks

Strange Coins

Earned by:

  • Dismantling legendary or exotic gear (random)
  • Mission rewards (random)
  • PvP rewards (random)
  • Weekly heroic strike mission (minimum 3, maximum 9)
    • You can do it at level 22 (which gives 3 coins), level 26 (which gives 6), or level 28 which gives 9.
    • If you first complete it at a lower tier (level 22 or 26), and then complete it at a higher tier (26 or 29), you get awarded the difference. Example, you first complete it at level 22, giving you 3 coins. If you then complete it again at level 26 or 28, you will get 3 or 6 additional coins, respectively. If you first complete it at the highest level, you will not get strange coins from repeating it at any level the same week.
  • Weekly nightfall strike (random amount)
  • Opening chests (random)
  • Public events (random, but requires gold tier participation)
  • Decrypting engrams (random)

Spent on:

  • Buying exotic gear from Xûr

Destinypedia - Strange Coin

Motes of Light

Earned by:

  • You get one at level 20
  • When you earn experience after having already reached level 20, you earn xp towards a new mote of light. You can check the level tooltip in the game to see your XP progression towards the next mote of light
  • Opening chests (random)
  • Mission rewards (random)
  • PvP rewards (random)
  • Decrypting engrams (random)

Spent on:

  • Buying exotic gear from Xûr
  • Class items and emblems from the Speaker

Destinypedia - Mote of Light

As for "what is the best", at level 20 your main goal will be motes of light and strange goins as they will allow you to purchase exoting items with Xûr. Note that he only arrives during the weekend (Friday 9am UTC - Sunday 9am UTC, give or take a few minutes), and his inventory is random and doesn't refresh until next week, so you may or may not actually find anything useful on him

Second to that you have Vanguard or Crucible marks, which will allow you to purchase legendary items from the Vanguard and Crucible vendors.

These things are predictable in the sense that you can pick what to do depending on what kind of currency you want, to a certain degree.

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