I had a referred friend join literally 2 hours before this announcement; I am kicking myself as now I will miss out on the "rewards" for that referral.
I am totally fine and understanding that referral rewards should be special for the folks doing the work in lieu of LW having to pay for advertising to support the game, however, it's disappointing that there is no retroactive way to reward past referrals. Usually this type of incentive happens at launch, not months after launch.