I wouldn't say the stakes level are entirely fair between the higher and lower rank in the forum because,
During the period when most of this higher account where ranking up, there was nothing like merit system, most account ranked up base on their activities in forum, so it was easy for any account to rank up, i wouldn't consider that as working hard, but just been lucky to be among the early members of the forum.
Looking at some account with high rank and the kind of post they make, you ask yourself how this account manage to rank up to Hero or Legendary with such post
if merit system had been applied from the beginning many high account won't even rank up considering the kind of post they make,
Now been an older members of the forum, then it some how feels a bit fair for higher accounts to have higher stakes than lower rank because of the duration of time spent, although it feels a bit frustrating as lower member especially now that it is not easy to rank up
.