I think merit will continue to exist... but I'm not sure for how long.
people who deserve to rank up aren't ranking up because sMerits aren't being fairly awarded. notice they only give sMerits to each other, like some kind of circleshake. Legendaries only give merits to Legendaries, and so on and so forth. If they give merits to newbies it's only 1 and rarely at that.

i dunno but i think the merit system will be gone in a year. Like confido.