I like this change a lot. Hopefully we'll see an increase in post quality.
Perhaps you are getting caught up in the weeds a bit, vphasitha?
When I joined the forum in early 2014, I came here because I wanted to learn about bitcoin, and I was passionate about the topic.
Ranking up was a bit of a side benefit, but really was not part of my consciousness.
Seems that if you are posting about your passion, and helping out others, as you learn yourself, then your post will likely cause other members to want to merit you.... merits are somewhat subjective because somehow you have to cause individuals to want to merit your posts, whether it is because of quality or humor or that you helped them or maybe they just begin to like you after reading several of your posts. Frequently, I merit posts that I don't really like, but instead, over a period of time, I have begun to appreciate the contributions of the member over time (so in that regard, a merit might be received that is not merely about that one particular post that receives the merit).