Okay, as AK said, I've been working on some new rank ideas for a while now. Originally, the ones I proposed were closely based on the American military ranks. So I changed the insignia for captain, major and colonel to the American insignia. This was mostly because I didn't see the British insignia where lack found to original diamond/swords/crown.
One big change is the silver vs. gold icons. The silver would denote free members and the gold would be for premium members. This distinction was something lack said he wanted in one of the other threads.
Also you will notice I added a rank of 'scout' for anyone below 800 which I think is an important distinction that we don't currently have for lowerl level players. Andy suggested we change the name for that rank to 'cadet' which I prefer as well (I just didn't redo the image). I also added the 'corporal' rank in its proper place which shifts everything above that one level so the point levels are not the same. Then at the top the ranks of brigadier, field marshall and wardlord were added. These eliminated the 1000 point jump to the highest rank, increased the ranks up to the 4000 point level and added a rank for first place so even the people at the top will have something to strive for if they are already over 4000.
Then I made a few small changes because I think the new icons for major and colonel were a little confusing, and it doesn't matter if the insignia accurately matches the military rank. In the below image I changed the icons so you would go from 1 up to 3 horizontal bars, and then straight into the stars for the upper ranks. I think this system is much less confusing because there aren't as many symbols to remember and the order of the ranks is easy to see and understand. However I also like the current swords/diamond for the major/captain ranks so another idea is to use everything in this image but keep the current icons for those two ranks.
So let's have some discussion about the new images, the new point levels, and anything else involved. If there are any other changes or ideas out there I would like to hear them. Just remember these are not the finalized rank changes or anything like that, so don't just complain about how much you hate them....talk about how to improve them!