uh the info you showed, unless im reading it wrong shows you get better damage with a higher level bow. the crab bow you are too far from to actually get a real increase in stats, if you look you ll see that your real attack doesnt usually beat something thats the right level, it may beat somethings thats drastically lower, but its almost never better than something your close to your level.
level 41 pug
attack on level 42 bagnjacks in description 127 actual when equiped at 41, 118 (-2 from attack earings, so really 116)
attack on level 39 himantes in description 120 actual
just by being 1 level off i lose 11 attack, which puts it behind a level 39 weapon by 4 attack.
Its totally logical your findings,
you notice a damage increase of about 40 using something that is almost optimal, and almost no increase, as compared to whats close to optimal for you.
you prove that the weapon does matter, and that optimal ranks work as intended and people should in general equip something that is optimal or below, as long as it isnt extremely far.
As to the transcendednt item, it isnt the attack that is boosting thier damage insanely, it is the strength, the effect of strength vs vit in ffxi has no cap. and weapon skills use stat modifiers for thier damage, the attack is still only a check on the monsters defense. your max damage and your weaponskill damage is more effected by your attribute modifiers for that specific weapon skill.
but that is XI science, this games science is still fairly unknown.
Yoshida said that the math was hard to understand, that doesnt mean its broken, it just means its complex, he is saying he wants to make it easier to understand for players, because players didnt understand it. I guarantee you that theres a formula that can tell you what your damage is based on your rank, your attack and your strength, and what skill you are using, it may not be intuitive, but neither was XI especially with weapon skill attributes.
all that aside your data proves that attack does work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...g?t=1304344074
notice that although in the weapon description in the right side it says that it gives 127 attack, in the right side with my actual attack it shows 118, and thats with +2 attack from my neckpeice. and this is just from being one level under optimal.
my level 39 weapon is better even though im 41. trust that this is usually the case with using gear that is not optimal, it gets way worse if it isnt favored.