Category:Merit Points

What are Merit Points?

Once a character has reached level 75, you will have the option to earn limit points when defeating enemies, instead of Experience Points. Once 10,000 limit points are obtained, they convert into one merit point. Merit points are a type of "currency" used to "buy" extra enhancements for a character whose main job has reached level 75 or higher, though some merit categories will partially affect lower-level jobs.

Merit Point Menu

Once a player has reached level 75, they can speak to the Nomad Moogle in Ru'Lude Gardens (next to Maat) to enroll in the "Moogle Merit Management" system and receive a Limit Breaker. They will then be able to access the "Merit Points" menu from the "Status" menu to view current limit and merit point totals, and to spend merit points on upgrades. This menu is only accessible when the character's current job is level 75 or higher.

Merit adjustments can only be raised or lowered inside a Mog House or Rent-a-Room; merit points cannot be allocated elsewhere. However, it is possible to switch from experience point mode to limit point mode in most areas, except when under a level restriction, or when participating in Besieged.

How to Accumulate Merit Points

When a character has reached the maximum amount of Experience Points (43,999) after reaching level 75 (or 99 if the appropriate limit break quest has been cleared), they will automatically begin accumulating limit points when fighting monsters that would otherwise yield EXP. This occurs even if you have not yet unlocked the Merit Points menu; it is not necessary to leave an Experience Points party to enable collecting merit points (e.g. on a first job, you may reach 75, cap your xp and gain the merits needed for New Worlds Await in the same session). Merit points may also be manually enabled at any time provided you are level 75 or higher.

Experience and Limit Points Modes

A character can begin collecting limit points before reaching the maximum amount of EXP by switching to Merit Point mode under "Mode Switch" on the merit point menu. When a player is collecting limit points, their main job and level will be displayed in blue in the status window and the EXP meter will be greyed out. You must be level 75 or higher to do this.

Once a character has accumulated 10,000 limit points, the points will automatically be exchanged for a single merit point. Switching to limit point accumulation mode affects all jobs that have reached level 75 or higher (it is not necessary to switch modes for each job).

If a character is KO'd while in limit points accumulation mode, they will lose EXP as normal. To regain that EXP, the player must switch back to EXP accumulation mode before fighting.

However, if a character has reached the maximum amount of EXP and has automatically switched to limit points as a result, he/she will automatically switch back into experience points mode until capped once again.

WARNING: The automated switch between XP & LP only occurs with whole rewards. That is, if you're 2XP away from cap, a reward of 100XP will only grant you 1XP (cap is Max XP - 1) and 0 LP. This can be very disturbing on FoV, Campaign, or Besieged rewards. Make sure you have enough XP till next level to cover any anticipated XP gains for what you're currently doing.

If a character on Merit Point mode drops to level 74 as a result of being KO'd, he/she will not automatically be switched back to EXP accumulation mode, but will accumulate EXP until reaching level 75 once again. The player will begin collecting limit points again once he/she reaches level 75.

Note that this not only applies to deleveled jobs, but also to subsequent jobs to hit level 75, so it is prudent to switch to EXP accumulation mode before leveling from 74 to 75 in order to build some buffer.

Collecting Points

When set to limit point accumulation, after each battle a message informing the player how many limit points his/her character earned will appear in the message window (in place of the previous message informing the player how many Experience Points his/her character has earned). A notification that the character has gained a merit point is announced just as if they had gained a level and a fanfare and banner is shown, but the HP/MP bars do not refill.

The maximum number of merit points a character can stock is 30. You will continue to receive limit points, but any merit points earned after accumulating this amount will be lost.

Limit points and merit points collected on all level 75 jobs are combined, and are totaled together in your Merit Point menu. A character does not have to earn the merit points playing the job he/she wants to spend them on.

Special Considerations

Experience Points earned from experience scrolls (e.g. a page from the "Dragon Chronicles") cannot be converted into limit points. If a character's mode is set to limit point accumulation and the character does not have the maximum amount of EXP, the item will grant EXP. If a character uses one of these items after accumulating the maximum amount of EXP at level 75 (or any subsequent cap level before completing the related limit break quest), the item will have no effect.

If a character has their level reduced when entering a Level Restricted Area, they will gain the full amount of limit points that they would have gained if they were actually that level. This is in contrast to experience points, which are under such conditions. When in a Level Restricted area, the amount of limit points gained is the greater of the following two calculations: one using actual character levels (calculation A), and one using character levels under influence of the level cap (calculation B). This is opposed to experience points, in which case the greater of calculation A and 50% of calculation B is awarded as experience points.

When in Campaign Battle (and possibly Besieged), if your level 75 or higher job's EXP is uncapped (and EXP mode is on), any EXP received will only count towards your EXP (assuming set to EXP), and will not overflow into limit points upon reaching the cap. Therefore EXP can be "lost" by not being applied. This is part of the game mechanics.

Level sync

Limit points can be earned while under the effect of Level Sync. Although you can check the number of limit points and merit points you have while under the effect of Level Sync, it is not possible to change modes from limit points to experience points or the vice-versa while under the effect of Level Sync.

How to Spend Merit Points

Merit points can only be spent while inside a character's Mog House or Rent-a-Room. To spend a merit, a player must access the merit point menu, select the category they want to upgrade, and select Raise. There will be a series of confirmation messages.

Refer to the general and job-specific categories below for possible merits.

Canceling Spent Merit Points

A player may wish to undo an upgrade that was made in order to spend points in the same category on different upgrades. To cancel a merit, a player must access the merit point menu, select the category they want to upgrade, and select Lower. There will be a series of confirmation messages, you will not get the spent merit points back.

Effects of Raised Attributes

The effect of merit points upgrades in the general categories apply to any and all jobs that the player sets as their current Main Job, including jobs that are not level 75. More upgrades apply as the character's main job increases in level, as shown below.

Job Levels	Upgrades in effect per item
1-9	0
10-19	1
20-29	2
30-39	3
40-49	4
50-54	5
55-59	6
60-64	7
65 or higher	All

General Merit Point Categories

Upgrades in the following merit point categories affect all of a character's jobs, as per the table above.

There is a limit on the total number of upgrades that can be done in each category ("Max combo").

For Example: A player can perform 12 upgrades on HP; 6 upgrades on HP and 6 upgrades on MP; 12 upgrades on MP; or any other combination adding up to 12. However, upgrading both HP and MP 12 times is not possible.

There is also a limit on the total number of upgrades that can be done on each item ("Max per item") and the number of merit points that are required per upgrade increase cumulatively as you complete each upgrade for that item.

For Example: The first MP upgrade costs 1 merit, the second upgrade costs 2 merits, the third upgrade costs 3 merits. The fourth upgrade costs 4 merits. The fifth upgrade costs 5 merits. The sixth, seventh, and eighth upgrades cost 5 merits each.

If a player wanted to upgrade HP 4 times and MP 4 times, the HP upgrades would cost 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 merits, and the MP upgrades would cost 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 merits.

Job-Specific Merit Point Categories

Upgrades in the following merit point categories are in effect only when the specified job is the character's main job and when it is level 75 or higher. They become inactive if the character delevels to 74.

Within each category there are two groups, each with separate "max combo" and "max per item" values. Upgrades in Group 1 enhance abilities, traits, and spells that the character already has, while upgrades in Group 2 grant and enhance new abilities, traits, and spells.

Group 1
[1→2→3→4→5]
Max combo: 10 (for each job)
Max per item: 5

Group 2
[3→4→5→5→5]
Max combo: 10 (for each job)
Max per item: 5

Total merit points needed to master ONE skill in group 1 : 15

Total merit points needed to master ONE skill in group 2 : 22

Weapon Skills

You must complete the quest Martial Mastery (requires level 96) before you may spend merit points on this category.

Only Weapon Skills that the current (level 75+) job can use can be adjusted.
Generally, jobs must have a C+ rank in a given weapon to be included on a given weapon skill. Weapon Skills can be merited at any time after quest completion, however, each applicable job must both be level 96 or higher and have skill level 357 or higher (skill merits count) in order to actually use the weapon skill.

Upgrade bonus affects all upgrade levels, not just ones after the first. (Note: the +17% listed in the descriptions takes the Alpha value into account; Before alpha value, the effective modifier is 20% per level)

[10→15→20→25→30]
Max Combo: 15
Max per item: 5

• Shijin Spiral (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Exenterator (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Requiescat (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Resolution (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Ruinator (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Upheaval (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Entropy (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Stardiver (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Blade: Shun (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Tachi: Shoha (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Realmrazer (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Shattersoul (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Apex Arrow (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)
• Last Stand (Attribute modifier +17% per upgrade)

Total merit points needed to master ONE skill : 100

Merit Point History

• July 2004: Merit point system introduced.
• September 2004: Merit categories were expanded to include Combat skills, Magic Skills, and Other skills.
• February 2005: Merit categories were expanded to include Job-Specific Upgrades.
• December 2005: Maximum number of upgrades per item and per category was increased.
• July 2006: New Job-specific Job Abilities and Job Traits, Spells, Songs and Blood Pacts.
• March 2007: It's possible now to switch between experience and merit points mode from outside Mog House. An animation visible to other players will now appear upon gaining a merit point.
• June 2007: The maximum amount of merits able to be placed in the categories "Combat Skills" and "Magic Skills" have been increased. Combat skills have increased from 12 -> 20 Magic skills have increased from 8 -> 16.
• June 2008: The maximum merits that can be placed on Group 2 abilities increases from 6 to 10 and the maximum that can be placed on a single ability increases from 3 to 5.
• December 2010 - The number of Merits than can be stored is increased to 20
• May 2011 - The category maximums for HP/MP (8->12), Attributes (5->8), Combat (20->32) and Magic (16->24)skills, and Others was increased; The individual merit maximums for HP/MP (8->12), Attributes (5->8), and Others(4->5) was increased.
• December 2011 - The number of merits that can be stored is increased to 30; The category maximum for HP is increased from 12 to 15; the Weapon Skills merit category is introduced.