I don't agree with this system.
You are creating the definition of "Rich people maintain rich, poor people will be poor forever."
Example: if you was in bitcointalk forum a few years ago, you posted a lot of under-quality posts and you earned Legendary Rank, so it is unfair with new people joining this forum now.
The new system has some advantages and disadvantages. The main problem was that the forum was being spammed for commercial purposes and some users were "farming" identities. If let alone, this forum would have lost its reason to exist.
However, the system chosen is quite hard on newcomers. We don´t know yet how much merit will be distributed, but my feeling is that even if you make relevant posts, they may very well be ignored and not merited. Getting from member to full member in my case would require 90 merited posts which for me, yet not knowing how much merit will float around, seem to mean that it will take a year or more.