Well, most of the factions with at least a level 6 monolith (easy to get) can get 800+ merit in one day (w/o mind invader) It was mostly increased to avoid that, I think. 3k is too much though, I agree. 1.5k or so would be enough to stop alt spamming.
It's change done by PWI devs, it will be lowered back.
I spoke to Aga about this week.