I couldn’t find any solid testing or info on this so I thought I would do it. I am aware level correction is no longer relevant and going away but it is still active in some zones. In this test I was curious since the 2016 update if level correction was still a hard cap to your pDIF. Meaning, although it is generally accepted that it applies to your ratio, it does reduce the maximum damage you can hit. Additionally, I was wondering if it was a correction to your effective max ratio (the point at which your pDIFmin caps out, or just your max ratio(the point at which your pDIFmax caps out).
If you followed my previous post I derived the Zitah lv 44 Ogre Fly to have 164 Def and 45 VIT. Then I went on my 38SAM/19NIN with a 45 base dmg GK to test.
For GK the max ratio would be 3.125 and the effective max 3.875. With a 6 level difference starting at delta two the penalty to my ratio would be (6-1)*-0.05 = -0.25.
Option 1 – level corrected, with min/max having different c-Ratio caps, my c-ratios would be:
c-ratio min = 3.875 – 0.25 = 3.625
c-ratio max = 3.125 - 0.25 = 2.875
min pDIF = 3.625 - 0.375 = 3.25
max pDIF = 2.875 + 0.375 = 3.25
min dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr )*3.25 )= 156
max dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr)*3.25*1.05 )= 163
Option 2 - level corrected, with both min/max having the effective c-ratio cap
c-ratio min = 3.875 – 0.25 = 3.625
c-ratio max = 3.875 - 0.25 = 3.625
min pDIF = 3.625 - 0.375 = 3.25
max pDIF = 3.625 + 0.375 = 4 = 3.5(reduced to 3.5 because that is the known cap)
min dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr )*3.25) = 156
max dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr)*3.5*1.05) = 176
Option 3 - level correction only affects ratio and the upper limit remains unchanged. Meaning, with enough attack, you can do the same max damage on a mob that is a higher level than you. This would be different than how the game functioned prior to the 2016 pDIF changes. To test this I got a BRD and used songs to put my attack up to 1061.
c-ratio min = 1061/164 – 0.25 = 6.22
c-ratio max = 1061/164 - 0.25 = 6.22
min pDIF = 6.22 - 0.375 = 5.845 = 3.5 (reduced to 3.5 because that is the known cap)
max pDIF = 6.22 + 0.375 = 6.595 = 3.5 (reduced to 3.5 because that is the known cap)
min dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr )*3.5) = 168
max dmg = floor((45 base + 3 fstr)*3.5*1.05) = 176
So after hitting a bunch of lv44 Ogre flies my damage range was:
Min – 156
Max – 163
Conclusion – Level correction does reduce your overall damage cap, and is not just a throttle to your ratio. Additionally, it looks like the level correction is functioning as described in the march 27th 2013 updates that states the correction starts after the 2nd level a mob is above you and then mirrors the original level correction equation after that.