At this point I think it's pretty safe to say all merit ws's are pretty much needed by all players
Perhaps. But do you need them all minmaxed? The difference between lv1 and lv5 is rather small- the result of a balance move by SE to make it seem as less required.

I defintely wouldn't mind seeing a limit increase but I'm not sure they would do it, because you can unlock all the WS at level 1 and they are only slightly less effective, which they seem to think is fine. The real problem is that the merit system was created as a customization system but it punishes you for your choices by making you have to do the work all over again if you want to re-customize them. If they just had a way to respec your points without losing them, it would have fufilled that role better.

Having said all of that, I've thumbed you up because they really should take a look at the whole system (not just WS).