Just to clarify, I didn't mean to offend anyone that is running the table with their DIII dynasty. Again, I'm in business myself and if that's what the consumer wants, then by all means, I'm going to let it go.
Part of me wishes that I ran into one of these juggernauts in any of my 1st 3 leagues so far, but that's not the case. Playing in Allen, Smith and Tark, I see a few guys that are flat out dominating the top rankings and I know that it would really take me 7-8 seasons to be able to compete with them. At that same time, I'm probably not the normal guy that joins HD. I love the numbers, I love the results of my efforts in trying to learn and I like the growing pains that come with developing my own playstyle. (And maybe in season II of each world I'll figure out how to not spend all my recruiting money without signing a single decent recruit!)
Most of my comments were just based on generalizations of what a new user might see. Like it or not, we are in an instant gratification society, so that does have to be factored in.
As for the mentoring process, that would be an excellent idea. I would even suggest as many as 24 teams, with at least 16 being user controlled. It will be nice for the guys to see that they can take a few breathers with some of the SimAI teams.
Personally, I've played some form of fantasy sport or sim, for quite a long time. During one stint in another "sim type" game, I was actually that veteran manager that had a huge advantage over the "noobs." We did end up creating a mentoring league and it actually went on to develop some of the most dedicated and strongest players that our game had. One thing that I would caution is that quite a few vets "think" that they would enjoy being that mentor, but there is definitely a major commitment involved. (Imagine answering the question of which attribute effects which part of the game 5 times a week!)
As for the FAQs, well, I agree with whoever the poster was that cracked on them. As a new user I read these forums from front to back and looked at the dev chats in detail. In the end, I put about 30% of what I read in the FAQs to use and picked up the other 70% from the veteran's comments and what I've learned in my own short time of playing.
(Right now it's the basics for me. I'm focusing on 1 type of D, 1 type of O and mixing up coaching styles amongst 3 teams to see what the results are like. I can see my development in this game taking at least 3-4 seasons per World, before I'll be ready to play at a high level.)
Keep the thoughts rolling though, I've seen a lot of good ideas over the last 24hrs.