You are not at the mercy of RNG. With proper leveling technique you can be 1050 in less than two weeks. But you have to use the vendors and the new engrams properly. Using those systems to purchase gear when you are not balanced in gear light level raises your light level. Maxing out each character in turn and then returning to your lower characters and buying gear raises your light level. I currently have characters at 1035, 1034 and 1029 (not counting artifact) and still have some work to do before reset. All 3 should be ~1036 by then and by next weekend around 1050, which will be enough to successfully handle the end game content.