personally me think merit system should not be there and ranks should be done via there post counts and quality of its posts
Don't think that merit is a big hindrance on leveling up , make it as a motivation though , I know it's hard leveling up or ranking up , but then again.
Merit applied because it has benefits not just on the forum but to our self such as , we can practice saying and writing english , and we can improve the way we write though.
Still you should be thankful than complaining.