There are exceptions to some of my advice such as books and Halloween in particular. However, merit resets get more expensive each time so it's not worth optimizing several times a year in my opinion. Some choices like masterful looting can also range from F tier to S tier but my advice is for the average, younger, Torn player which is deciding some placements. Thanks for reading!
S TIER (NECESSARY):
Education Length 10/10 - First 55 merits should be used to max education. The exception would players buying DPs or getting money incredibly fast to achieve 2B for bank investments. I removed these merits with 3 education blocks left.
Bank Interest 10/10 - The bank should be your primary passive income and maximizing this is wise. Skipping this merit early can be fine since the average player will be paying for happy jumps and find it difficult to save. The bank and this merit upgrade should always be a primary goal, however.
Life Points 10/10 - Life, the “5th stat”, is necessary for avoiding losses due to a single crit (or hit if assisting), using med CD efficiently (all medical items scale with HP), and generally being stronger in PvP. Buying mid or late game gear without this merit upgrade finished is foolish. You'll be buffing a smaller health pool.
A TIER (IMPORTANT):
Crit Rate 8/10 - 10/10 - Crit rate is arguably the second most important merit upgrade for war. Merits tend to scale faster than stats, at least early on. Leaving this upgrade at 8 or 9 is fine to be frugal with merits, but you should probably finish this later if you intend to war hard.
Crime Progression 5/10 - 10/10 - With OC 2.0 providing reasonable payouts to newer players, crime progression is a solid choice. Crime progression can also be bolstered with faction perks, law starter job, and is more ambiguous than faster education with clear rewards which makes it A tier. 5 levels is a solid choice, in my opinion.
B TIER (RECOMMENDED):
Brawn, Protection, Sharpness, Evasion 3/10 -10/10 - These aren't as necessary to upgrade as a newer player but are important later on. I don't personally suggest 3 stat builds until a certain threshold has been established so upgrade these all relatively equally until you get them to at least 8. 10 would be preferred in the mid to late game.
Rifle Mastery 3/10 - 10/10 - The most important weapon base and thus the most important mastery. I would argue to keep this relative to your stats buff levels.
C TIER (SITUATIONAL):
Employee Effectiveness 3/10 - This can be a solid choice if it allows you to get into a company you wouldn't otherwise, or gets you more money. I do think most people should throw a few levels in assuming they aren't a director but anything more than this should be a thoughtful decision or done after the previous perks.
Nerve Bar - This can be useful for newer players to avoid losing nerve overnight or on flights but becomes less important over time. I don't think older players should keep merits tied up in this. If you do find yourself less active or with a small nerve bar upgrade what you need to not miss nerve.
Masteries besides Rifle 3/10 - 10/10 - Upgrade as needed, but Rifle and stat buffs should be level 8-10 before considering these. You should be using a rifle in most cases.
D TIER (NOT RECOMMENDED TO AVERAGE PLAYER):
Hospitalizing - This can be useful for mercing which will come later or adding more pain to opponents which requires stats. That's not to say that this is a useful upgrade, it's just not useful very often. Other perks take priority.
Masterful Looting - The average player should not be consistently mugging. This can obviously be an S Tier perk but that will come with experience. Just don't mug and don't mug early unless you have direction/instruction from a successful mugger and more stats.
Addiction Mitigation - Factions with max mitigation make this a less useful perk, and it has limited benefits to begin with. There's simply better perks that will grow your account faster.
F TIER:
Awareness - You might hear anecdotal stories about awareness finds or feel jealous when others find SEs on the map. Neither of these things make awareness a good choice, and it has very little impact to your account. I have found 3 SEs with zero awareness perks, while others have found none with, or more with, or more without, and so on.
Stealth - By the time you might want consistent stealth mugs you should have the stats and weapons to increase this chance. Merits is not the lever to pull for this. Besides being a mugger which I've already explained to not do often, don't consistently hit people you want to hide from. Not smart.