The main question I have about it is what about the people who have really high ranks in these factions? It takes forever to rank up for us now and we need the rank up in order to get commendations to buy cool new gear. We are at a disadvantage now. I hope they do something to allow us to get commendations that we should have already earned or something similar.

Well, you used to get a little prize package at the Postmaster, yes? They come so seldom for me that I simply can't remember. (Casual gamer, Vanguard level 3 here.) I do recall the Vanguard sending me Proxima Centauri at one point. So if they give me a legendary plus a commendation to buy another one, I'm cool with. If I get jack and a commendation, I'm not cool with it. As it is, getting 150 marks takes me about three weeks, so it's not like I'm buying legendaries weekly. But faction standing -- I'm averaging four weeks for each leveling right now, so that means I'll likely only get to buy three legendary items from the Vanguard before the next DLC comes out. That does sound pretty stupid, especially when you consider that I need armor more than weapons, but now I'll need a commendation for each piece of armor too, which only took me about a week to earn previously. So unless the loot drops pick up tremendously (I've only seen four legendary+ items, all weapons, from loot drops since starting play in September -- and I'm level 29, 23 and 19 on my three characters), I won't even have a fully upgraded armor set before House of Wolves.