I personally think that they should not have given level 31 to the Tower factions. My solution would have been to have more than 2 light levels for the DLC, bring up the light level of faction gear to 30 for some additional aesthetic choices, add a harder difficulty to the VoG and reward level 31 gear, leave normal mode CE as is but with the change at level 32 gear, and finally make hard mode CE give 33/34 gear. There should also be more than one method to get max level. Hard mode CE would give 33/34 gear with a higher defense rating and better perks than say 33/34 IB gear(the previous other method for getting level 30). Perhaps giving the factions and Vanguard/Crucible 33/34 gear but first requiring to be a certain level. This way people who accomplish the "hardest" task in the game are well rewarded and stand out from the crowd. Even if everyone is max level, those people can be distinguished. Lastly the new materials would be gone with. Sure lots of people have hoards of hundreds of shards making it easier to level new gear if my system was in place. But given the options I am offering, I think having to grind one specific place for your materials when you can only go there once is kind of silly.