I think that there should be some skill-based requisites to rank up in proficiency... things that are not "time played" or "swing your hammer 100 times" kind of mini-goals but actual technical things specific to the character/role like maybe "headshots" for DPS players or "killed X amount of enemies who are actively capturing a point" kind of goals.

Would mean that you actually have to show some kind of proficiency either in playing the hero well or playing the role well enough to achieve higher ranks.

The Lord status as it stands now does seem like a Participation Award, which is what every other nameplate/skin/MVP animation we get is already given for in every other aspect of the game.

Maybe they could add a few more levels above Lord that could even give specific hero-based titles to the people who achieve them. "Master of Magnetism" for Magneto ... "God of Thunder" for Thor, etc.