Listen here’s how it works.. Powerful gear will drop + 5 from all the powerful engram milestones until u hit 520. That being said it’s still +5 over ur light level , not +5 higher than each slot. So if ur 515 and u have all 513-517 gear but happen to have a 520 energy weapon , if u get unlucky and get an energy weapon to drop, it’ll drop at 520 also, now if u get ANYTHING else , armor or kinetic or heavy to drop , it’ll drop at 520 also , making u go up in light level.. so it’s a bit of luck to get what u need to progress as well as grinding shit out.. Now when u hit 540 , only the Nightfall amd Petra bounties will get u the + 5 powerful drop, every other milestone will only drop + 1 , same rules apply as above , so now even more luck comes into play for leveling up. Once u hit 560, only Petra’s bounties will drop + 5 powerful gear, EVERYTHING else will drop +1 , same rules apply as above once again , making it even HARDER to level up. Once u hit 580, only the Raid and Prime engrams will drop + 5 gear , Everything else in game will only drop +1.. Prime Engrams are the exception to this rule as they will ALWAYS drop + 5 gear and u can get multiple a day. I’ve averaged 3-4 a day since Forsaken launched by grinding Blind Well and crucibile . So what u need to do are all the lower tier + 1 milestones first, then save the + 5 milestones for last. No matter what do the NF and Petra’s bounties after you’ve done ALL other milestones . Also u get a powerful reward drop from killing the tier 4 Blind Well boss once a week, so once you get ur light level up there go do that also. Also running multiple characters is a huge advantage to leveling up, u can transfer weapons and get over the sticking point once in a while , when u get higher levels . And the exotic quests will drop AoS and Chaperone quite a bit higher than ur current light level also, so hold off on doing the quests and wait til u need a kinetic drop that’s high to get u over the hump. I did that on my second character and it helped a bunch when I got stuck My highest character is 572 almost 573 and my second is 565. So yes I kno what I’m talking about and yes this works .. System isn’t broken it’s just misunderstood. I know this is long but I hope it helps everyone understand and utilize the system to progress

“Working as intended” - Bungie.

Yep same here I’m near to giving up.

I swear they said they wanted every powerful item to level you up some way. I've gotten three energy weapons in a row that were 530. When the energy weapon I had equipped was already 530.

Not all powerful engrams are the same from what I understand Plus I think they are range capped My guns are much higher and those drop only 1-2 higher But armor drops 5 or more

Most drop lower, the rest drop as energy weapons. All regular legendaries being edge transits.

Bungie is stupid ! Final Answer

I'm taking my time doing the story and stuff until "powerful" entrants get fixed... they're helping me still level for now.

Research the tiers of powerfuls. It’s a good start and it’s helped me level. Tip: if you have 1-3 pieces of armor that are holding you back do the dreaming city/nightfall milestones and it’ll drop higher If you have 3-8 pieces all at your current light level do the tier 1 powerful rewards like daily strikes crucible gambit flashpoint milestones.

Nope. You're not. Interestingly enough, my friend that's played way less than me is 10 levels above me

Try grabbed my them quickly in stead of waiting

The whole system is bad. Having powerful rewards drop below your level is terrible and having them reach a point where they only give +1 is stupid. Everything that drops +5 requires a fireteam except for prime engrams

It's a bug bungie addressed already, should be fixed next week. They're supposed to be +1 higher than what you have, not 5 or 15 below.