I'll see how things are in a month or two and think about it. Basically, the "ideal new user" should be able to easily and without any particular "merit farming" be able to far exceed the merit requirements; for them, activity should be the limiting factor. If this is not achievable, then I absolutely will make tweaks until that goal is reached. But it's too early to say at this point.
I did consider a 1-point requirement for Member when designing the system, but I thought it might be too easy. We'll see.
That's great to hear that's the intention. I'm sure as merit becomes more widely distributed that it will trickle down into the sub-forums and gaining it will be much easier - I agree to observe it first for a couple months to see if this is what happens. Thank you too for managing such a great community here and doing something to fix the influx of bad quality posts, the idea of the merit system itself is grand.