So I bought this on PC recently. I can boost a character to 30, but since I never played I decided to start brand new on the original content. Should I bother working on any factions or gear or should I just play story missions until I catch up the most recent DLC/expansion?
Its cool to go through story because you get exotics along the way that are still relevant today which you can always get from your collection tab at a relevant item level later on. Osiris, you can just run through main story and skip the weapon grind there. Warmind is cool story to run through on your way to 50 and there is a few weapons you want to quest for there for sure, one is the sleeper simulant quest and the other is a scout rifle that explodes every 4th or 5th shot, I forget. Warmind also has Escalation Protocols you want to grind for the shotgun, but you can do that anytime. Honestly you can skip the scout, but definitely grind out that sleeper, it will be your first real boss melter.
Pick up the bounty from drifter for the auto rifle pinnacle weapon, and pick up the bounty from Zavala for the pinnacle fusion rifle, and just grind those as you go along. Not sure if they will be available next season so you should pick them up. (that auto rifle is OP as fuck in PvE)
But yeah just do story missions and level up. If you get stuck at some levels not being able to do shit, grind out a few public events anywhere, those are usually good EXP and will help you boost your level up so you can do the harder missions.
Most of the forsaken stuff kind of overwrote the other shit you get along the way (weapons and armor) so you should really just concentrate on getting there as fast as you can. But that sleeper simulant is a great boss melter and I really feel you should at least grind that out. Its a long quest chain, but you can do it and the reward is worth it.
Then there is the armory stuff(most recent DLC) , not sure if you picked up the season pass for $30 but if you get there its higly worth it for the guns you get there, which is a fantastic LMG, high impact sniper, god tier pulse rifle, void hand cannon, AR, bow and a sword which are whatevs. And best of all is you can run that shit over and over to score some great rolls on those.
Look out for mods like rampage, kill clip, outlaw. those are god tier in PvE.