Please Bring Back Meriting

I would like to see a meriting system in place that I can work on during my FC's off hours of raiding or when I'm out helping other FC members. Ideally I would like these to be challenging to get.

I understand obtaining gear helps get you through raids, but I would like to beef up my character in general on my own, not with 7 other people all the time. I enjoy playing with my group but at the same time I want to continue making my character stronger and better, but I feel like I'm always waiting for a reset of some kind.