Number of Eks gained changes the way the armor looks.
Hero Warrior/Mage Armor set gradually loses color and fades away the more eks a player gets.
1000 - Stage 1 
2000 - Stage 2
3000 - Stage 3 
4000 - Stage 4
5000 - Final 
Hero Warrior/Mage Armor set gradually loses color and fades away the more eks a player gets.
1000 - Stage 1 
2000 - Stage 2
3000 - Stage 3 
4000 - Stage 4
5000 - Final 
Only cosmetic change and from new to old look sounds great to me. I dont even have hero yet RIP.
Not sure about fading but I like the idea and incentives those grinding eks for something other then leaderboard