I've seen recruitment notices specifying minimum IP among other criteria. I've also seen players tout their IP as a reason to recruit them. Being relatively new to the game (since May 2013), I don't understand their value for individual players. It seems the syndicate battle strategy would affect a player's ability to score IP so much, it would render IP useless as a means to evaluate a player's potential value.
Consider two scenarios:
1. A player with high attack takes down the rival syndicate's Defense Leader, or scouts the individual players to post their defense stats for his teammates to attack. This player would have sacrificed his ability to score IP for the good of the syndicate.
2. A player with moderate attack waits until the scouts report defense stats on the players in the other syndicate. Being able to pick opponents with the highest level, with defense he can beat, this player collects more IP.
Both players performed vital assignments to further their syndicate's position in the battle, but the latter seems to benefit by scoring more IP at the expense of the former.
Am I missing something fundamental about the value of IP?