You lost all competition, really. There's no longer the great felling it probably was to finally turn into a Grand Marshal, since even the green guys can get an epic just like that, as long as they farm HK.
Just like the mount, you don't need any rank, as you don't have to play, you can simply wait for your faction to win or lose the game. Well, you do need the money.
One other thing, honour is calculated with the enemies last rank. Meaning, it'll start to devolve into less honour gain, since most new players can't go up on ranks, and are therefore giving you less honour.
I do like the Arena system, though. It gives competition.
By the way, a doubt, you did have 10% discount as seargent. Do you have it now?