Merit is broken and so frustrating

I think you all have experience with it.

Ran round the base 15 seconds 450 Merit Ran round the base 30 seconds 225 Merit Did f - all. Team originally capped and then resecured Another base had a 20 min fight on the leaderboard and ZERO.
WTF!

I think you only get merit when you get base capture/defense XP. On attacks that means you have to be far enough inside the hex to see the timer on the minimap. I'm not sure why it sometimes counts when defending and sometimes doesn't, but it's usually whenever the timer has been running and hits zero again.

Also have to ask, do you really need more merit? Can't find anything to spend it on since summer last year.

The merit system was ill conceived from the start.
1. Being personally present the moment a progress bar completes doesn't always mean a lot. I'm often asking sundy drivers to get set up on the next base ahead of time, according to the merit system these guys aren't helping. This is just one example of why someone would be absent at the moment of capture, there are others.
2. And much more importantly, the words "Stay in your lane" and "Get out of my wheelhouse" apply. Measuring who is or is not contributing to an outfit is not the dev team's responsibility, it's the outfit leadership's.

I personally would scrap the merit system entirely. Give players a two week heads up to spend their merit, then dissolve it. After that former merit assets can be purchased with certs or cash and deployed with nanite. You know? Like everything else in this game. Except for cort bombs, they can just get deleted. Maybe reintroduce them for April fool's, but instead of placing the bomb it just instantly kills user.

I've only just started chasing MERIT. I'm not a regular player but have been enjoying the latest couple of updated

Don't worry then. You'll drown in merit soon enough. It just seems like there's a lot to spend it on, but in reality it's not that much. Start with the tactical stuff, since those will usually be the most useful. After that it's just the Colossus and some cosmetics you can spend it on. If you don't plan on pulling a Colossus, don't worry about it. Cosmetics are somewhat expensive, but you can take your time with it.

Cortium Bomb unlocked lel.

I agree, get rid of merit

or at least give us more stuff to purchase

We recapped a long awaited Containment Site and no merit so bad!

Thanks for that link, it's funny to see that flash back of how they thought battle flow would happen at those abominations.