This is how Destiny's Level system works: If you are 1 or 2 levels below the max level then you do a 40% less damage if you are 3 then i think it's 60%(correct me if I'm wrong). Any lower then you wont do any damage at all. Now if your equal level or Higher you will do the MAX amount of damage to the enemies. This is why a 30 with a weapon that has the same states as a level 14 guardian while versusing a level 14 enemy Dreg will do the same amount of damage. The ONLY way to do more damage is to have a Weapon that has a higher ATTACK value. In VOG 300 attack weapons at level 30 do 890. 331 weapons do around 960 ish i believe in VOG.

Close.. but 1 level under does 20% reduction. 2 is 40, 3 is 60.. and then after that.. you do 80% less. I know you do damage because when I was level 10, I was exploring earth cause I can. And when you spawn and you go straight, there's the stairs that go underground. There's a bunch of level 18 enemies, I didn't know that at the time, they were just skulls.. I killed one, took me about half an hour. But I wanted to do it. Just to see if I could. So you do damage. Just not alot. If anyone has the real numbers... that would be helpful.

I tested this just 2 nights ago. I did identical damage output at 31 and 32 (using maxed VoC). My defense rating was a tiny bit lower. It seemed like the damage I took was the same, but it may have been a tiny bit different. I see both sides of the argument. One, VoG cap was designed with and beaten with a lvl 30 cap. There should be no problem beating it at lvl 30. Two, why wouldn't you maximize your character's defense rating as much as possible? Unless you are getting some particular perk on another piece of armor. All that said, whatever lvl you are, if you don't die and are getting the same number of kills...who cares what lvl you are? Experience is much more important than the difference between 30-32.