Let each faction have its own set of gear to get people to 30. But make it extremely difficult to get there by those means.
Something like Rank 5+ with 200 marks per piece. Also have it have a chance to drop from the packages you get from ranking up faction 5 on up.
This game needs more avenues for players to get to 30. Making it so there's only one way to get it is an unnecessary bottleneck and makes EVERYONE look the same. This way it'll create more ways for people to get max level and actually make it possible for people to have different armor.
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I'd prefer that your light level be determined by the highest light level gear in your inventory, not what you are wearing. Otherwise this ranking system seems to completely nullify the options of unique and faction armour instead having everyone toating the same boring raid and legendary gear... I wanna stand out from the crowd but still be able to play high difficulty game modes in my unique armour.