This image was posted over on Reddit:

http://i.imgur.com/tqZUkf5.png

There's a pretty lengthy conversation surrounding it, too, and this is the top comment:

Fucking thank you. I'm tired of everyone being confused and accidentally spreading wrong information.

Why are people ‘accidentally spreading wrong information’? Maybe because there is no official information? Incidentally, how do we even know that the description in the above is accurate? Where are they getting it from? Did Bungie post a detailed description of how levels and motes of light/light work that we all missed? Or are they gleaning it from little comments in interviews over the past few days and filling in the gaps? It's this kind of thing that leads to misinformation, and it's precisely why Bungie should be explicit about how the mechanics work.

Or maybe people should stop posting images with information pulled out of their ass and acting like it's authoritative.

EDIT: ... and other people should stop believing them. It's all incredibly childish.

You can't grow your characters beyond level 20 by conventional means - collecting experience points. Once you reach 20 you'll see XP collected into Motes of Light instead.
It's these Motes of Light which you can then craft into special armour - courtesy of the Speaker character in the game's Tower social hub.
This armour will boost your character stats higher (the highest shown so far is level 29), although the character menu itself will still show 20 as your upper limit.
These weapons have a light statistic - what we don't know is how these light numbers translate into a character level.

...Once someone bothers to articulate it properly. It's the bolded part that you'd also like to have explained and I can understand why, if you are that way inclined, the evasiveness on this can be irritating somewhat.

Brief article here.

Destiny will surely have many articles just like this. If your specific questions aren't answered, it's because they feel it'll be more fun if you find out by playing instead of being told.

Good point with these articles — let's hope they keep up that level of information with Destiny.

Do you think that on release day they will immediately post a thorough explanation of how character levels will work, or will we all have to find that out for ourselves?

Bungie has a very good history of flooding us with detailed FAQs and Guides in the week or two before release. Just check out all these "How To" articles right before Halo 3 launched:

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3forgebasics

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3forgeobjects

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3forgeadvanced

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3savedfilms

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12798

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3avcal

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3bungiepro

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3networking

http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=h3matchmaking

Destiny will surely have many articles just like this. If your specific questions aren't answered, it's because they feel it'll be more fun if you find out by playing instead of being told.

There's a pretty lengthy conversation surrounding it, too, and this is the top comment:

Fucking thank you. I'm tired of everyone being confused and accidentally spreading wrong information.

Why are people ‘accidentally spreading wrong information’? Maybe because there is no official information? Incidentally, how do we even know that the description in the above is accurate? Where are they getting it from? Did Bungie post a detailed description of how levels and motes of light/light work that we all missed? Or are they gleaning it from little comments in interviews over the past few days and filling in the gaps? It's this kind of thing that leads to misinformation, and it's precisely why Bungie should be explicit about how the mechanics work.

It isn't Bungie's fault that you are impatient.

I've said over and over again, this isn't impatience. Characterising it as such is very much missing the point.

As you've already established, they can open that door back up, that's a not a big deal. But I doubt they made up a different Director just for the Alpha and Beta. It could be marked as another area on Earth, and maybe it is.

Personally, I'd rather err on the side of caution. It'd be nice to have all that to explore, but I'm not getting my hopes up it'll happen.

I don't see how it could be. There's an insta-kill barrier blocking it from player access.

The mail sack is open.

You laugh, but the one and only question I ever sent Bungie was answered:

http://halo.bungie.net/inside/letters.aspx?letter=10993

.... A place that I like to call older Russia. So all of this is playable space that we hope to one day get to send you to. It is all real geometry. You could go there, we could go there right now, but we have a schedule to keep.

I don't think that he would say this so clearly if he wasn't actually sure. We know that they beta was just a taste of what we could play in the full game, and I know for a fact that there were still a bunch of areas that were inaccessible. I'm pretty sure that we are going to be able to go there.

I'm the kind of person who reads the rules for a board game first rather than fumbles through a game pausing every now and then to consult them.

It sounds like you are the type that would call up the boardgame company before the boardgame is released and demand to know the rules ahead of time.

You say that you want to read the rules before you play. Fortunately, most of the Bungie games come with both a manual inside the box, and (usually) a strategy guide. And the cool thing is that everything you read in both of those is going to be 100% final. If you want to know every detail about the game, then wait until it releases, and then read up to your hearts content.

Blasting Bungie and saying that what they are doing is WRONG and DISRESPECTFUL is stupid. They don't owe you any information, heck they don't even owe you a game. You will get your information one way or another. It isn't Bungie's fault that you are impatient.

What is Bungie not going to tell us once the game is out?

Do you think that on release day they will immediately post a thorough explanation of how character levels will work, or will we all have to find that out for ourselves?

The funny thing is I somewhat agree with you. Bungie's slow drip style isn't my favorite either. Why were things like how saves transfer a secret for so long when Bungie now tells reporters "it was the plan all along to keep saves in the same console family." Or why did it take so long for just the very basics of the gameplay (open worlds + story missions) to be revealed, especially when Bungie kept saying that they weren't sure they'd gotten the message across about what Destiny was. The message hadn't gotten across because they'd neither shown us their game nor describe their game, and certainly said nothing about explore mode. Historically, I was pretty annoyed by the mid-Halo era of [redacted] in weekly updates as well.

But this? Levels and level caps? It's just another part of the game same as equipping armor and weapons or approaching any enemy formation. It's not going to be complicated. It doesn't need a day one immediate explanation. We will figure it out by playing the game a few hours or days and that will be that. And, If they ever increase the level cap I would bet my miniature Ghost I have preordered that they'll explain what effects an increase will have BEFORE it happens.

I think it's just fine to not like Bungie's style of communication, but I think you've chosen the wrong issue to try and demonstrate that dislike.

It requires a certain amount of trust from their fans, but they've earned that trust from me. I like when a company, be they Apple or Bungie, has the courage of their convictions and the confidence that they are building something special that they like and are excited about.

I find the comparison with Apple to be interesting, because in certain ways it's true, but in others it's different. For one thing, once Apple does release something, they don't skimp on the details (yes, I know the game hasn't actually been released yet, but we're so close we can almost smell it. Do you smell it? ‘Cos I can smell it) — it's either completely secret, or it's completely in the open. Not so with Bungie.

Also, for years now developers have complained about Apple having exactly the kind of aloof, vague and unhelpful attitude towards their third-party developer community that I'd say Bungie suffers from at times, but at this year's WWDC it seems that Apple has done a complete about-face and is embracing a far more open attitude. The reaction from developers was overwhelmingly positive, and is best summed up in this tweet:

My 2¢: for the past few years it's felt like Apple's only goal was to put us in our place. Now it feels like they might want to be friends.

It's stuff like makes me certain that a less aloof attitude would be positive for Bungie. Showing the fanbase a little bit of the thinking that goes into the process builds engagement and investment; for all the people who are saying they enjoy the mystery, I don't think that will go away, we'll just get a different perspective on things when they do share them.

It's a different situation. Developers need a certain amount of info from Apple to do their job. (See the subject line.) Let's take it as a given that Bungie has tested the heck out of Destiny, so they've got feedback from gamers and to that extent making the game has been a collaborative endeavor. Beyond that, they need only share enough with us to sell us the game--at this stage anyway.

Another analogy is film directors. There are only a handful of directors whose movies I'll go see without reading reviews of their films, but I cherish them, because I get to experience what they offer having no or few preconceived notions going in. I'm the same way with Bungie games.

What is Bungie not going to tell us once the game is out?

Do you think that on release day they will immediately post a thorough explanation of how character levels will work, or will we all have to find that out for ourselves?

The other stuff, about Apple opening things up a bit is a better example. This one though is veering off into "let's pretend to know what Bungie will say in the future" land. :(

You've lost me…?

I find the comparison with Apple to be interesting, because in certain ways it's true, but in others it's different. For one thing, once Apple does release something, they don't skimp on the details (yes, I know the game hasn't actually been released yet, but we're so close we can almost smell it. Do you smell it? ‘Cos I can smell it) — it's either completely secret, or it's completely in the open. Not so with Bungie.

What is Bungie not going to tell us once the game is out? The other stuff, about Apple opening things up a bit is a better example. This one though is veering off into "let's pretend to know what Bungie will say in the future" land. :(