Introduction
In the discussion about exotics and the new DLC, I see a lot of confusion about what the new, higher tier exotics and legendaries are bringing to the table.
To be clear, the attack stat on your weapon (300 maxed for most current exotics) does influence the damage dealt in general. This stat was rumored to only influence damage against mobs of a higher level than you but this is proven false. See destinygundamage.info or below.
False Claims
Despite this, I see many claims that the old exotics "deal max damage at lvl 30 content anyway". It is claimed that there is no use for the upgraded weapons besides the lvl 32 hard mode Crota raid.
This is false, the attack stat impacts damage dealt overall! Meaning that if you have a 331 atk stat weapon compared to a 300 atk stat weapon, all other variables constant, you will actually deal more than 10% additional damage overall. See this image for the upgraded necrochasm at 331 atk stat.
Murmur and Dragon's Breath from DrCrispy93's profile indicate that the new ATK stat limit will be 320 for regular weapons. Vex mythoclast is 323 for being the VoG HM weapon and the Necrochasm will be 331 for being the CE HM weapon. (
http://www.destinydb.com/guardians/playstation/2014120915133761381-drcrispy93) (Thanks /u/Bartins)
More to read:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheG...e_and_attack_and_why_you_should_upgrade_your/
To clarify for those interested:
There are four things that come into play here and confuse the whole debate:
Weapon impact and attack stat
Weapon type and mob type reductions
Guardian lvl reductions
Mob lvl reductions
First of all, the weapon damage is determined by it's impact stat and attack stat. From Destiny Gun Damage:
Damage per bullet for a given weapon is a linear function of that weapon's attack stat. Impact affects this linear function's coefficient and intercept. Other known damage modifiers are percentage manipulations on the damage resulting from the linear function.
The first reduction comes from fighting majors and ultras. From Destiny Gun Damage:
Scout rifles, sniper rifles, and handcannons suffer additional penalties to both body damage and precision damage when fighting majors and ultras. This penalty can be quite significant (25% penalty to handcannons against Ultras). Auto rifles and pulse rifles do not have any penalty to body damage against majors or ultras and only suffer the 2x headshot multiplier loss for precision damage.
(
http://www.destinygundamage.info/#/info)
Then, there is a damage penalty if your guardian is a lower level than the mob.
1 lvl > 33%
2 lvl > 42%
3 lvl > 52%
4 lvl > 100% (no damage)
(
http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheG...is_how_light_levels_affect_your_gameplay_and/)
Finally, a reduction is applied based on the mob lvl and weapon attack stat. A maximum damage cap is determined for mob lvls lower or equal to ATK/15. Every mob lvl below this cap lowers the damage by roughly 7%.
(
http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheG...e_and_attack_and_why_you_should_upgrade_your/)
Please upmote for visibility so that no false information is used in the current discussion.
TLDR: Attack stat on weapons influences overall damage and is not connected to damage on mobs with a higher level than you. A 300+ attack weapon will do more damage to current lvl21+ enemies than a 300 attack weapon.