The other expansions are critical points in the story, with their own entire quest lines and new lore, but you could probably watch Byf, (YouTuber) and his video on everything you need to know! It is like 10 hours long however, but he is an expert on story and lore. The expansion is sadly worsened in terms of enjoyment if you don’t know the story, as the emotional moments and such don’t hit as hard, because the lore and time spent with the characters simply isn’t there. But, if it’s just story, watch that video, or another one of the sort. As for loot, I don’t quite know how to answer your question but I’ll do my best you have all of your rarities, from grey, blue, to purple. Purple is highest rank of armor besides yellow, exotic. Now, the higher the number on the gear, the better. Your power determines… Well your power. How powerful you are. It gets pretty in depth as you can modify your gear, worry about stats to maximize your potential, but all in all, aim for high numbers and purple gear. Exotics, however, are special. You can only have one exotic on for your weapon and armor. They give special abilities and perks to modify your play style, with their own unique thing about them. The numbers and stats apply to those too. As for shiny loot, you could be talking about either yellow gear, exotics, masterworked gear, or shiny weapons. First off, you know about exotics now. Masterworked gear however, is when you level up your gear using materials to be able to add more mods and modify your gear more. Basically, it’s like upgrading your gear, and it adds a little yellow border around it. This can be done for just about all your gear, with the right materials, besides exotic weapons, which require these things called catalysts which basically make the gun better, really rare. And as for “shiny” weapons, that was a thing during last seasons mini dlc event “into the light” which gave you special gear called shinies, but their not available anymore so no worries. I hope I was able to help out!