I am about to give up on this game. It has been fun, but I have reached a point where a feel it is fundamentally broken.
I am a level 24 hunter, and all I get are useless rare drops. I am rank 1 on vanguard and crucible, so I cannot purchase any armor that will increase my light level.
The amount of boring and repetitive grinding I would have to do to rank up my vanguard and/or crucible just isn't worth it to me.
Odd that you are only Vanguard rank 1 if you were doing bounties as you were going through the story. I was almost rank 2 after completing the story. Spent some time on patrol and in the lowest strike hopper and quickly hit level 2 and was able to buy some gear.