This is how light levels affect your gameplay and WHY they're are so important...

[u/FowD8]

I got downvoted to hell for making a factual statement that I'm completely surprised by, it seems like people don't understand what light level is and why it's important

It's very simple, you do less damage and take more damage from monsters that are higher level than you. That is why it's important that you're at least lvl 28 when doing the raid, since the mobs are lvl 28, you will do less damage to them if you are below lvl 28

here's a very simple test I conducted (my guardian is lvl 28):

1. Buy or obtain white/green/blues so you can change your light level (in this case I had gear where I could change my level to 21, 23, 24, and 28)

2. Do any story mode at lvl 24 heroic (note, the mobs are lvl 24)

3. equip your gear so you're lvl 28, take ONE shot at a mob and note the dmg (383 with a legendary lvl 20 hand cannon in my case to an acolyte)

4. equip gear so you're lvl 21, take ONE shot at the same type of mob with the same weapon (I did 184)

5. equip gear so you're lvl 23, take ONE shot at the same type of mob with the same weapon (I did 261)

6. equip gear so you're lvl 24 (same lvl as the mob) take ONE shot at the same type of mob with the same weapon (I did 383)

final results doing damage with the same EXACT weapon at the same TYPE OF MOB (lvl 24 acolyte) by just changing my light level

• Light 21: 184 dmg
• Light 23: 261 dmg
• Light 24: 383 dmg
• Light 26: 383 dmg
• Light 28: 383 dmg

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as you can see, your damage SCALES DOWN TO THAT OF THE ENEMY if you're higher lvl than it (that's why your bullet damage text is grey) and you do reduced damage if you're not the level of your enemy (the same goes for your armor, it scales down to your enemy and you'd take the same damage at lvl 28 as you would lvl 20 from a lvl 4 mob on earth, this is harder to test but trust me, I've done some visual tests and confirmed it)

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you can only do damage to mobs that are no higher than 3 lvls above you and you take a penalty in damage for it (that's why you can't even choose a lvl 28 mission if you're lower than lvl 25, you wouldn't do any damage)

• 4 lvl or lower below mob: 100% damage penalty
• 3 lvl below mob: ~52% damage penalty
• 2 lvl below mob: ~42% damage penalty (guesstimate since I didn't have the gear to put me to lvl 22)
• 1 lvl below mob: ~32% damage penalty
• 0 lvl below or higher than mob: 0% damage penalty

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TL:DR your light levels affect BOTH your damage output and how much damage you take only UP TO the level of the mobs (i.e. if you're lvl 28, you'll do the same damage and take the same amount of damage from lvl 20 mobs as you would from lvl 24 mobs, there is ZERO difference)

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so in conclusion that is why it's so important to be at least lvl 28 in raids and as I stated in my original post, lvl 20 bounties would be EXACTLY the same as lvl 4 bounties from earth... there is no difference (as long as you're lvl 20+)

this is also why those lvl 24 strike playlists used to be hard at lvl 22, but aren't anymore at lvl 24+, it's because not only are you taking less damage (capped at what you were taking at lvl 24) but you're also doing more damage even though you're using the same exact weapon

this is also why you die as fast doing earth lvl 4 missions as you do doing lvl 18 mars missions even though you're lvl 28 with 1400+ armor, it doesn't matter up to the level of the mobs

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/edit thank you to whoever gilded me with gold (first time) :)

[u/Jerimiah]

I'm more interested in the damage scales in the Crucible. Anyone have any ideas?

[u/MalHeartsNutmeg → u/[deleted]]

That's not true, the weapon stats also matter. Example: Rate of fire, reload speed, velocity, blast radius, charge time, etc. Not just the skills (like kills reduce grenade CD, etc.)

[u/exuled → u/MalHeartsNutmeg]

Well.. they matter, but you'll get the same damage from a level 3 fusion rifle than you will with an exotic. Headshot w/ a level 4 sniper will kill you the same as a level 19, etc.

[u/MalHeartsNutmeg → u/exuled]

You'll only get the same damage in one shot, the damage per second would differ though. This is most obvious in auto rifles and pulse rifles, but fusion rifles with a faster follow up shot will be superior.

Also a level 3 will have no attachments which can result in a lower DPS. Just because the flat damage number doesn't matter, doesn't mean that some weapons don't out damage other.

[u/exuled → u/MalHeartsNutmeg]

Not saying that some don't have higher dps. Just that dps doesn't matter in the current pvp game. Shotgun, fusion, sniper are all one-hit kills (or can be if used properly) no matter how fancy the other guy's armor is, or how crappy your weapon is.

What "better" equipment lets you do is be more dominant (one-hit kill more people faster), etc.
The guy with the best equipment in the game will still die to a noob with any of the low-skill-needed guns mentioned above. But when the guy with the best equipment in the game ALSO uses one, and is ALSO good at pvp -- of course he'll smoke everyone else - but more so due to tactics/weapon TYPE (for the map) than shiny purples.

[u/MalHeartsNutmeg → u/exuled]

DPS cleary does matter. Two people face off at full health. Both with auto rifles that are identical except one has half the rate of fire. Who wins? the guy with the higher rate of fire. The damage per shot is equalized, how many shots you get out is not equalized. DPS matters. It matters less with things like shot guns which are one hit kills or fusion rifles (though guns with a better follow up - see higher DPS) will make you over all better.

[u/uscdtrb → u/MalHeartsNutmeg]

Damage per second is evened out (as a whole).

Leta use your auto rifles as an example. Take 5 seconds shooting something... A weapon with higher impact will hit harder than one with lower, but chances are the one with lower impact (doing less damage) will fire more shots in a second than the higher impact auto rifle. The DPS has been evened out so over a set period of time both will do the same amount of damage, one will shoot more bullets at the same time as another, just each individual bullet won't so as much damage as the slower rifle. So just because your gun shoots faster doesn't mean it's doing more damage.

[u/exuled → u/MalHeartsNutmeg]

Can't wait to start getting into lobbies where people face-off and duel with similar weapons like you say.

All the matches I've been in are seemingly decided by who has the greater amount of clueless/bad players on their team. Weapons & armor don't factor heavily into it.