[Q] Benefits of flashing custom ROM via MOP topic

Hey everyone,

I recently switched to T-Mobile and got the Note 3. Im not a stranger to rooting and flashing but Im trying to understand the benefits of flashing a custom rom via MOP (mobile odin pro). I am rooted and do not want to trip knox so I havent flashed anything yet but was thinking about giving it a try since i have read various positive reports of others doing such and retaining Knox.

My questions/thoughts are, since you can not flash a custom kernel or recovery yet (and retain Knox) what are the benefits of flashing a custom rom? I know that a lot of the bloatware can be removed (if the Rom creator decides to build it that way), but what are the other benefits? I was thinking that other tweaks in the custom rom would not be really used since I wouldnt have a custom kernel (is this true)?

Also, since I dont have a custom recovery, I couldnt create NANDROID of my current ROM, so I would have find a stock rom and flash that if I want to go back to Stock (If I have to take it back to T-mobile)?

Im not bashing the idea of flashing a custom ROM using this method but trying to understand some of the benefits of doing such, so I can decide if it is something I should try.

Thanks All who respond,