The newer 'merit' system means you will be spending likely more time as a newbie. Previously it was possible to rank up to Jr. Member and then to regular Member status in a matter of several months depending on how active you were. Now it could take longer than that. This should be good for the forum as it will bring less spam, low quality posts.
The new meritnsyatem will surely bring out the effort and creativity in members, most especially the newbies who aims to climb up the ladder and get that certain rank they always wanted to be in. Let's say that they will do it by force and not because they wanted to, so what? As long as it will make the forum a better one with better contents, all is fine. Soon they will realize that the new merit system will instill them a habit worth having and developing without them knowing that the forum caused it.