I don't spend my whole life on the couch

Because the friggin ascendant shards

I have been asking everyone that EVERYDAY! Most are surprised when I ask but it was rather hard unless getting really lucky in the VoG... but now it is SO EASY TO BE LEVEL 31. I was 31 a few hours after the Dark Below went live. All armor sold by any of the 3 war factions, as well as the Vanguard Vendor and the Crucible vendor. Xur is selling a Hunter Helm to help you get to 31 (or 32) and he has Exotic Helm Engrams now. Completing the first quest from Eris (The Urn) should get you gauntlets or some piece of armor with light level 33. It is probably easier to acquire 1 Vanguard Commendation and 1 Crucible commendation, though it may depend on the player/player style. 2 Commendation can get you a chest piece AND a helm (if you don't already have a new Exotic helm). Use both Vangaurd and Crucible marks... remember the both maxed out get you 400 marks... more than enough to get 4 pieces of armor with a max of 33 light. The exact among need per armor piece to be level 31. If you are not 31 because you want to wait to level new Raid gear... you are just making it harder for you to run with the sword at Crota until then. That said if you have the raid boots... they are the most helpful for running the Sword when defeating Crota as the sword weighs you down, while the raid boots give you a lot more agility when wielding the sword.

It's a huge pain in the ass right now because I don't have enough plasteel and sapphire wire to level my guys up to 31. That is the only thing holding back my Titan and Hunter. Warlock was my first character for a long time and has well over a thousand hadronic so no worries there.

I need shards but what's the rush?

Just going to stay at Lv 30, -blam!- DLC

Haven't had time to play

The game hates me and doesnt want me to succeed

Why does it matter to you?

It's all grind from here