SIDEKICKING - temporarily INCREASE your level
In order to use this tool to increase your level, you need to be in a group.
In private/ public groups, you need someone in that group to match the zone's maximum recommended level or be above that.
Then, your character's level will be temporarily adjusted to the zone's maximum recommended level.
This will replace ALL your gear and overwrite it with fixed stats. Only your weapon type and martial 1h scaling is of relevance.
You may already have seen this effect in instant adventures- prominently Intrepid instant adventures, where Hammerknell is a level 65 Zone with auto- sidekicking for example and any level 10 turns level 65 with Tier 3 raid gear stats.
You can also achieve this manually in the open world.
The benefits: Sidekicking gives you the equivalent of at least full blue dungeon gear or even raid gear (65)
If a level 64 quests in Tarken Glacier, it would be a level 64 in whatever equipment he has.
With Tarken having a maximum of level 65, sidekicking would turn the same character into a level 65 Tier 3 wreckingball with 3-6 times the performance. The difference can be 30k vs 130k dps + x2/ x3 the hp.
This is especially helpful for people who just stumbled out of Instant adventures and are decked in a wild mix of level 10 to 40 gear..
Special bonus for Warriors who can freely level with whatever trashy 1h weapons.
See for yourself:
(Sidekicking to 65 is the most extreme example)
70 Pvp allows level 65-70 to pvp together, a sidekicked level 69 may run more crit power and overall damage than a level 70 on original gear ..
You can easily see every zone's recommended maximum level via the world map:
NOTE: If your level MATCHES the zone's recommended maximum level, sidekick will be disabled. So a level 65 to 66 level up in Scatherran forest may cost you half your hp and damage.
Avoid this by never having your level=zone's maximum level but rather head into slightly higher zones (like Gedlo Badlands here) and come back later.
-> If you 'get sidekicked', the group only has to persist and everyone else in your group can be logged off. (Absolutely everyone in the group being offline however auto- disbands it)
-> Sidekicking in manually entered dungeons is usually set to the level of the highest group member.
MENTORING - temporarily REDUCE your level
As a higher level character, you can set your current level lower in order to play with friends or have events & mobs to count for participation.
Manual mentoring has to be at least 5 levels lower. Some areas- like the proximity to a Nightmare Rift may mentor(sidekick) you automatically.
-> Having sidekick enabled and entering a lower level zone will have you auto- mentor down (Or better say scales you to the zone's maximum level just like sidekicking upwards) This is great for events or to finish a quest line without gray mobs.