Equipping a faction’s “mark” allows you to earn faction rep by doing BOTH PvE and PvP, which in turn lets you rank up by turning in BOTH types of bounties. So in theory ranking with a faction would be faster than either vanguard or crucible correct?
Or am I missing something here.
Nope, that’s exactly how it works. I recommend trying to get Vanguard up to tier 3 so you can spend those marks then never taking your faction --armor-- class item off again.
Futute War Cult is best war cult 
I went with Dead Orbit as soon as I hit lvl 20. I’m at rank 2 right now and a little way into 3 but I want to go back and get my vanguard rank up. I guess I would have to take off all my Dead Orbit gear to get vanguard rep, correct? should I just continue on and get my rank to 3 first?
Yeah, get the rank 3 for the free legendary imo, then go back to vanguard. I had to do the same with FWC: switched too soon and I’m still working on tier 3 vanguard as a result.
Wait just a minute. I thought you only gain faction rep by wearing the faction special item (i.e .Titan Mark) but you’re saying even if I wear faction chest piece I still earn faction rep?
Did not think of that. Darn it.
No, it’s only from the faction class item. I should have been more specific but mobile makes it so hard :’(
Oh haha great. That’s a relief.
ahh that is good news. I was worried I was going to have to go back to blue gear to get my vanguard and crucible rep up.
Since I have finally made level 20 it’s time to focus on this uber gear.
It looks like the only way to earn Vanguard marks is through the 3-man Strikes, correct? So the only means of earning “solo” marks is through the Crucible? And you can spend those Crucible marks on individual faction gear if you choose to equip the class item?
I’m just trying to understand why I would want faction gear.
As a Titan, it looks like the Vanguard armor available to this class is focused on Strength; every available piece has STR on it with a healthy balance of either INT or DIS on each piece. Seems like you can have a very balanced character if you pick this gear, or just choose STR/INT or STR/DIS. I can’t see the other classes’ Vanguard gear so I assume that Hunter gear focuses on DIS and Warlock gear has INT.
For the Crucible armor, all the pieces have DIS on them. Again, these seem to have a balance of STR or INT.
New Monarchy gear is all INT & STR. There is zero DIS on any piece available.
Dead Orbit is DIS & STR.
Future War Cult is INT & DIS.
Generally, I prefer balance. I like throwing punches, I like my super, and I like tossing grenades. Of the three I guess I like grenades the least, so maybe I’ll take that into consideration when choosing gear and look a little harder at New Monarchy.
I’m curious if anyone else looked at the stats available on the gear before choosing? Do you focus on just 2 stats or have a balance of all 3?
Public events are worth Vanguard Marks as well.
I didn’t focus on a specific stat at first, my path was just to get as much light as I could. Once I had some flexing room, I ended up just trying to get gear that revolved around my weapon, like faster reload and max ammo.
I don’t think I ever saw one public event when playing the story but I can now make a conscious effort to encounter them.
A pet peeve of mine is having a character in mismatched armor. It really tears me up to look like a clown (unless I’m actually playing a clown). In order to properly fight the bad guys, one must dress in a proper suit.
After looking over the suits available it seems like the game wants you to focus on two stats rather than balance all three. After some debate I think I will either go with the New Monarchy or Vanguard gear.
You can always use Shaders to lessen the “clown factor” haha
I’m so glad this is not just one of my idiosyncrasies. It is hard enough to get the smart pieces of armor to synchronize with your build, but matching boots to helm is a whole different problem. Bungie where is the “Fab” Shader?
Can I ask what “free” Legendary?
Starting at level 3 and every subsequent level with a faction they mail you a random legendary from their wares. FWC gave me a void version of their shotgun, for example.
Interesting… Thanks for that!