This makes the most sense. Instead of just making gear aesthetic, you should get some sort of bonus for dropping 345 marks. Same with weapons. You should get some sort of bonus if you have all three slots for the same faction. That's 450 marks! Matter of fact, why don't the factions have their own shells like Crucible and Vanguard? And for one final rant, even though the answer is probably "because you get full rep from bounties and only half to your factions", why can't I trade motes and material to level up Vanguard or Crucible?