I think what is more important is the merit value, I mean the user who gave it to you means a lot. Quantity over quality.
Imo, all merits earned have the same value. Sure, some users are more tech/politically/economically... savvy than others, and it would be more difficult to impress them, but for anyone to merit your post naturally (i.e without any incentive) then they found your contribution helpful and that is a net positive for the forum, whether they are a newbie, or a woke up account.
I think what he's trying to say is that someone in a higher rank's merit is valuable than the others, well if you think of that it's making sense obviously, some people are hard to convince with your idea or opinion, you can't impress them easily that's why he said that. I don't really expect for a merit every time I comment or post, literally an incentive for me but I'm really trying to post an honest and quality posts.
And if someone who is reputable in the forum merits you, it's like you just tamed a dragon.
Getting merits from certain members is dependent on what interests them, you could be very active in the altcoins section for example, a board which most members ignore due to the high level of spam, so getting merits from certain profiles there is impossible, regardless of whether or not your contributions are helpful, but it's still commendable when you get them from others.
I will rate getting merits in certain boards where they're hard to come by, over getting them from select profiles, but that's just me.
That's what he's really trying to say actually, "the user who gave it to you would mean a lot" that's what he's trying to say the Merit Value.