Oh.. I'd say it's not "that" hard as for my experience... Still invisible here & cleared at least 2 lists yesterday, besides revenges no attacks in sight.When I took a couple weeks PvP break I usually sat around 1500rank while being attacked 5-6 times a week... It will change as soon as you'll push the throttle a bit..
Would not call it an exploit tho true you gain points with holds but they can't sustain any desirable level by themselves & all the catch up you'll have to do at some point will probably balance things out pretty quickly (as in my case)... Fun to start a mad rush with about 50 SOW tho