Merit

Not just for Boy Scouts

 * Upon attaining level 75, a player can go to the Nomad Moogle in Ru'Lude Gardens hovering next to Maat. The moogle will bestow the player with the key item Limit breaker which will allow the player to accumulate limit points in place of experience points after battles. A new menu button will appear under the Status section of the menu (when the player's current job is 75). Here, the player may see limit and merit point totals by selecting the Merit Points button.


 * Once 10,000 limit points are obtained, the player is rewarded with 1 Merit Point. These points are used to semi-permanently enhance a player through increasing skills, adding abilities or traits, or raising attributes such as STR.

History

 * June 2004 [Update Details]: 'Moogle Merit Management' System introduced.
 * September 2004 [Update Details]: Categories are expanded to include Combat skills, Magic Skills, and Other skills.
 * February 2005 [Update Details]: Categories are expanded to include Job-Specific Upgrades. These are known as Group I or Tier I merits.
 * December 2005 [Update Details]: Increase in maximum number of upgrades per item and per category.
 * July 2006 [Update Details]: New Job-specific abilities and traits, new spells, songs and bloodpacts are added. These are known as Group II or Tier II merits. Also, Group I merit categories for Blue Mages, Corsairs, and Puppetmasters are added.
 * March 2007 [Update Details]: The ability to switch between experience and merit points mode outside your Mog House is added, as long as a level restriction is not in place (this includes Besieged). Additionally, an [[media:New_Merit_Animation.JPG|animation]] visible to other players happens when you attain a merit point..
 * June 2007 [Update Details]: Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the categories "Combat Skills" and "Magic Skills." Total combat skills went from 12 -> 20; total magic skills increased from 8 -> 16. Group II merit categories introduced for Blue Mages, Corsairs, and Puppetmasters.
 * December 2010 (Update Details): Maximum storable merits increased from 10 -> 20.
 * May 2011 (Update Details): Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "HP/MP" from 8 -> 12. Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Attributes" from 5 -> 8. Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Combat Skills" from 20 -> 32. Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Magic Skills" from 16 -> 24. Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Other" from 8 -> 10, individual cap increased from 4 -> 5.
 * December 2011 (Update Details): Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "HP/MP" from 12 -> 15. Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Attributes" from 8 -> 12. Maximum storable merits increased from 20 -> 30. Merit weapon skill category added.
 * March (Update Details) and May 2012 (Update Details): Group II merited abilities which previously had a reduced timer with each upgrade were modified so that the timer starts at its previous minimum and the ability's effectiveness is instead increased with each merit upgrade.
 * July 2012 (Update Details): Increase in maximum number of upgrades in the category "Attributes" from 12 -> 24. Individual attribute cap remained at 12.
 * April 2013 (Update Details): Geomancy and Handbell skills were added to the "Magic Skills" category which also had its maximum number of upgrades increased from 24 -> 32. Restructure of the "Merit Weapon Skill" category so that lower tier upgrades are slightly more expensive but significantly more effective.
 * June 2014 ([Update Details]): Added "Maximum Merit Points" to the "HP/MP" category. Maximum number of merits that can be applied to individual "Attributes" increased from 12 -> 15. Maximum number of merits that can be applied to individual defensive "Combat Skills" (Evasion, Parrying, Shield, Guard) increased from 4 -> 8. Total number of merits that can be spent on the "HP/MP" category increased from 15 -> 45. Total number of merits that can be spent on the "Attributes" category increased from 24 -> 45. Total number of merits that can be spent on the "Combat Skills" category increased from 32 -> 56. Total number of merits that can be spent on the "Magic Skills" category increased from 32 -> 48.

Using Merit Points

 * Inside the Mog House (or Rent-a-Room), a player is able to spend and cancel merit points by accessing the merit point menu.
 * In this menu, all the categories available for upgrade are highlighted. Only skills available on the current 75 job can be accessed (e.g., you can't raise your Great Katana skill for your Samurai while browsing the menu as a Corsair).
 * Different Merit Points are divided into categories and have different costs and category maximums, as is laid out in the table below.

Merit Point Categories
There are 5 general Merit Point categories that apply to all jobs, then one category for each job that only has an effect when you are on that job, and one category specifically for meritable Weapon Skills. The 5 general categories are fairly straightforward, but the job specific categories often adjust things about the individual job (like Warcry recast).

General Merit Points

 * HP/MP : Increases HP or MP by 10 per merit level. Increases maximum possible merit points by 1 per merit level.
 * Attributes : Increases any Attribute of your choice by 1 per merit level
 * Combat Skills : Increases any physical skill by 2 Skill per merit level.
 * This applies to both offensive (like Dagger) and defensive (like Parrying) skills.
 * Magic Skills : Increases any magical skill by 2 Skill per merit level.
 * Other : As you might expect, this is the most heterogeneous "general" category.
 * Enmity Increase/Decrease : Increases or Decreases your Enmity by 1 per merit level
 * Critical Hit Rate : Increases your Critical Hit Rate by 1% per merit level
 * Enemy Critical Hit Rate : Decreases the enemy's critical hit rate by 1% per merit level
 * Spell Interruption Rate : Decreases your interruption rate by 1% per merit level.

General Merit Points are also available when you are on jobs below level 75, though the number of merits available is restricted. The below table shows how many merit levels are available at each job level. So if you were a level 99 Samurai with 12 STR merits and you changed to a level 75 Warrior, you would only have +10 STR from merits.

Job Specific Merit Points
Job Specific merit points are divided into two categories (Group 1 and Group 2). Group 1 typically contains adjustments to the job, like decreasing timers or increasing potencies of job abilities/magic. Tier 2 typically contains Job Traits, Job Abilities, and Spells that can be activated through merits and enhanced with further merits. None of these merits are available below level 75 (for instance, if you level sync).

Weapon Skill Merit Points
At level 96 and beyond, powerful Weapon Skills can be unlocked through merit points. An initial 20 points opens the skill, but it will take 123 points (20 > 22 > 24 > 27 > 30) to fully power it up.