Requires Better Gear

I would do the strike playlists and do your weekly so you got coins to spend on Xur. Once you build up your marks you can buy vanguard gear, pick out something nice from Xur because that will give you max light. A full set of vanguard gear will get you up to light lvl 31 which is what you need when you go to CE normal. You can do it at 30 but once you hit the lvl 32 enemies you are pretty much worthless (damage taken/given penalty). When you hit lvl 30 then roll nightfall into your weekly tasks because you can get some good drops (exotics and legendaries) ..or if you are like me you will get ascendent shards for 2 weeks in a row....lol.

I suggest sticking with the vanguard rather than going with any of the other factions. I believe your gains are quicker there. Either way just focus on getting marks to purchase the legendary gear from the vanguard. Strikes are the best way to earn marks quickly. You can also farm public events but that's hit or miss. Once you have the marks you should get Boots/Gloves first then chest and helm since those two take vanguard commendations. While you're farming marks, you may get a piece of legendary gear anyway and that will be one less piece to purchase. Once you are full legendary I believe you'll be lvl 27 without a single upgrade in any of them. At that point it's raiding time.

I had the same issue... If I remember correctly... I started getting better drops after my vanguard rank hit either two or three... Coincidence.... Maybe. Oh... I received a legendary fusion and rocket launcher at vanguard 3... If I remember correctly

Just complete all possible bounties and a bunch of strikes every day to get your vanguard rank up. Or faction rank but then you will need to run PvP to get the marks to buy the lvl 31 gear. Once you get your 31 gear you can start focusing on getting raid gear. If you don't have an exotic armor pc then just buy what ever Xur sells this weekend just to get some more light level. Once you get to like 28 or 30 you can really start getting picky about your armor and stats. Thats my 2 cents at least.

Hey man, as far as which faction to level up first, it just depends on who's armor stats you like better. I went with FWC first because I liked the intelligence and discipline stats. But even if you don't choose a faction right away, your still ranking your vanguard rep, witch is good too. To get better drops you really need to run the different weekly strikes and daily missions. Now your under level for the nightfall, but you should be ok running the weekly heroic. Also running the vanguard strike playlist would be beneficial as well. You will be leveling up your faction rep, whoever you choose, when you do this too. The VOG is going to be pretty tough for you at 24, so I would wait till your at least 26 but 27 or 28 would be better. If you need help running some stuff and your on xb1 hit me up anytime, I would be more than happy to help out. Good luck!

For sure you should do the strikes, VoG, CE and buy stuff from Xur.