Merit? You don't get high allagan gear by getting killed in Coil for 100 hours.

You can get the PVP gear by getting kill there for 100 hours. So... Merit? No. Patience, maybe, but not merit. When I see a guy on pvp gear no one thinks "That guy must be good", or at least almost no one. Most people will just think "Wah, that poor guy liked the PVP gear so much that he grinded it for hours".