@Trokey66 I'd like to see them go way back to BF2 on this one. Make max rank a hard slog like you said, but get rid of most of the ranks. In effect, make it a slog for each rank.
Why? Because people will play more for the fun of it.
I'm of the belief that stats and rank have caused as much grief as fun in gaming. Players get too caught up in stats and rank to the point it effects how they play, and of course...RAGE MODE [ON].
Not that rage can't happen anyway. But in BF2 you knew the grind was so long to the next rank that you just didn't even worry about it. You went out and played, and when you got the rank...great lol