Destiny 2 currently has a floor power level that sits 5 power levels below your base (until you hit max, then floor power level ranges from -5 to -0 your base).
Items that drop at your floor power level include blues, legendary engrams, and vendors.
This is a protection against bad RNG.
Let's say you go a month without a cape to drop. Your base power level is stuck at 360, all your gear is in the high 260's and can't go any higher because your damn cape is stuck at 350, so you can't advance. A blue cape will drop at 355 for you, 5 below your base, which will bump up your overall base by 1 to 361, allowing all slots the chance to advance you again. You get unstuck.
Without the floor power level mechanic, this is what you'll see:
-Primary: 368
-Energy: 367
-Heavy: 352
-Helmet: 367
-Arms: 368
-Chest: 367
-Boots: 268
-Cape: 351
This person is stuck and literally cannot advance without a heavy and/or cape drop, but week after week after week after week after week after week......no heavy and no cape.
The floor power level mechanic we have now prevents this. The heavy and cape slots are so low that they are below the floor power level (5 below base), so a blue or legendary engram or vendor engram will drag those slots up a few ticks, which un-maroons you.
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I Frickin detest RNG; it's always been 💩 to me, it's a crap system that needs to be looked into and changed.