It seems like nobody is happy with the story for many reasons, but nobody has anything to say to fix said problem.

The Grimoire being implemented into the game, just isn't going to happen, let's be honest.
And the factions/vanguard/crucible vendors are just there for a glorified gear shop at the moment.

But if Bungie does this in their DLCs it would be great:

Have our backstory of your guardian based on the faction we gravitated towards to before the DLC dropped.

Make it like a subconscious kind of decision you made

Level 4 Dead Orbit Titan? DLC drops and your Titan starts getting flashbacks from before his first death. Maybe while fighting off Fallen from a fleeing DO ship your view shifts and you see a glimpse of the Darkness. And based on your faction and class combo, you'd see a different aspect(s) of the Darkness' attack and a different significant event of the Collapse.

This will flesh out the story a little more and bring the community together to see all the different cut-scenes of the Darkness causing the Collapse. And if the Traveler is really evil or there is some other hidden twist to the plot, you'd only realize it when you piece together all the different visions of the Collapse. And by spreading out the visions with the community of Guardians, we wouldn't have a huge exposition dump all at once.

Now you care about the people you're trying to save in the Last City, you've seen how powerful human tech was while fighting off the Darkness, you can kind of see how your Guardian fell in battle (hopefully that part is still sort of vague just for fan-fic's sake), and it will bring the Destiny community together in one fell swoop.

Maybe after piecing together all these visions, you see why humanity hates all these aliens and why they hate us.

If you read all of this, thanks I guess.

you can kind of see how your Guardian fell in battle (hopefully that part is still sort of vague just for fan-fic's sake),

It seemed to me that it was fairly clear the player's Guardian didn't fall in battle. They were one of the many, many dead people who seemed to just have been fleeing towards the Colony Ship. Remember, the Guardian wasn't a Guardian before they died.

Also, I don't really like the premise of this. One's allegiance now having an effect on their past doesn't make any sense, nor would it follow that everyone joined their faction because of their (unknown, even, mind you) past. Finally, how would it work for those unaligned, such as myself?

well the default one would obviously be vanguard.

And regarding the allegiance thing in the present:

I see it as a subconscious thing you/your guardian does due to his past ideology. I mean if he was a Dead Orbit guy, wouldn't die either fleeing the planet or helping people flee? That's the faction's ideology.

Also regarding not falling in combat:

Why would he be a trained fighter right at the get go then? He knows how to use firearms, and do CQC with at least the Fallen once he is risen from the dead. He is given power armor, fighter pilot gear, or a warlock gear for a reason.

Or did coming back from the dead as a Guardian grant that knowledge? We can't exactly deny that possibility.

And all of the Guardians we're playing, in all likelihood, died trying to flee or help those fleeing, just by their location.

Or did coming back from the dead as a Guardian grant that knowledge? We can't exactly deny that possibility.

Then what are we really? Are we just a husk of what we used to be? A thrall of the Ghost that revived us? If the Ghost can download knowledge into our brain, can he also take away certain memories?

And all of the Guardians we're playing, in all likelihood, died trying to flee or help those fleeing, just by their location.

But we have no idea how that looked like. Thus the flashback/visions. Maybe he crashed down from a ship, a failed attempt at the Master Chief landing in Halo 3/4?
Why are everyone dead in their cars? The Darkness seems like instant death, something you don't fight.

It seemed to me that it was fairly clear the player's Guardian didn't fall in battle. They were one of the many, many dead people who seemed to just have been fleeing towards the Colony Ship. Remember, the Guardian wasn't a Guardian before they died.

Then how do explain your sudden proficiency with an autorifle? You've been alive for all of 3 minutes and you can shoot a gun with precision.

I'm with everyone else. I don't think the player's past should really be defined. It would destroy a lot of the role-playing potential that a lot of people like in these kind of games.

It seemed to me that it was fairly clear the player's Guardian didn't fall in battle. They were one of the many, many dead people who seemed to just have been fleeing towards the Colony Ship. Remember, the Guardian wasn't a Guardian before they died.

Then how do explain your sudden proficiency with an autorifle? You've been alive for all of 3 minutes and you can shoot a gun with precision.

If I was awoken in 300 years, I would be able to use rifle just fine: and i was never a warrior.

#countryboycansurvive

It seemed to me that it was fairly clear the player's Guardian didn't fall in battle. They were one of the many, many dead people who seemed to just have been fleeing towards the Colony Ship. Remember, the Guardian wasn't a Guardian before they died.

Then how do explain your sudden proficiency with an autorifle? You've been alive for all of 3 minutes and you can shoot a gun with precision.

Er, video games?

Or did coming back from the dead as a Guardian grant that knowledge? We can't exactly deny that possibility.

Then what are we really? Are we just a husk of what we used to be? A thrall of the Ghost that revived us? If the Ghost can download knowledge into our brain, can he also take away certain memories?

Interesting questions. One Warlock bond I had actually raised the question if the Guardians were still really Humans/Exos/Awoken.

And all of the Guardians we're playing, in all likelihood, died trying to flee or help those fleeing, just by their location.

But we have no idea how that looked like. Thus the flashback/visions. Maybe he crashed down from a ship, a failed attempt at the Master Chief landing in Halo 3/4?
Why are everyone dead in their cars? The Darkness seems like instant death, something you don't fight.

I'm with the others who are saying it'd be best to leave that to one's own imagination.