Yes, it does not come easy at all. I think it took me 3 or 4 years before I reached Legendary. You had to be active, even before the Merit system was introduced and you had to post constructively or your account would have been banned. It was even harder to do, because people participating in Signature campaigns were under the magnifying glass and you had to post quality content or people would report your posts to the mods.
No matter if you did this with or without the Merit system, it is still a big achievement and a Mount Everest to climb.
As of writing, my total log-in time is: 35 days, 1 hours and 54 minutes. Maybe with challenge from merit system, I might have to spend 2 or 4 years to become a Legendary member, but it does not a big matter, and does not an ultimate goal to be here.
I learned a lot from the forum, after merit system kicked in. Honestly, before the lively operations of merit system, I did post shit, but after that I realized my problems, and shits I brought to the forum. I accept the challenge, changed myself, improved my English, keep learning, and yeah, essential thing is save posts/ threads that I think helpful for future reference. Merit system took me more than 1.5 years to rank up to Senior Member from Full Member, but when I hit it, I was extremely happy. Because I do realized that my decent efforts are make sense.
Looking back, I also see my knowledge, and skills in crypto increased considerably. That are one of main purposes to be here.