A huge amount of it is also level. (Destiny)

by Funkmon , Monday, June 22, 2015, 16:32 (3681 days ago) @ Earendil

Until you hit 34, you have no guaranteed etheric light drop, and the game is very difficult. Then you get, at most for practical purposes, 3 a week. Now, by now you should have gotten enough armor cores to have a 450 strength character at level 34, but only if you can play the 32 every week. Qodron was basically unpossible, and if you missed a week you're in rough shape.

ToO is, by its very nature, extremely difficult for players who aren't pvp monsters. At this point, the only teams bothering are quite good, so just to hit 6 wins and get that first drop is very hard, sometimes insurmountable.

I think soon we'll see quite a bit less income equality as virtually everyone hits 34 who is equipped to do the endgame.