I just have to point this out because I think it was a poor Dev choice. This game is an MMO, it's the main reason why people come to check it out, but a new player cant even get to experience all of the MMO aspects until mid game so now PokeMMO has successfully turned getting badges into a chore with a bad reward, the reward being now you can chat and trade, something you should already have been able to do in an MMO. So now the new player has to ask them self if it's even worth bothering to do all that, for half the game they don't even get to enjoy the MMO but instead pretty much play the original game with people running around and little interaction.
I started in Kanto and In my opinion they should have left it should have been at least 1 badge because in the original games you need at least 1 badge to battle/Trade anyway.
And then just one thing that irked me. It costs a focus band to learn 2 moves that aren't even good. It costs a focus band to learn Mega Punch/Kick lol those moves aren't even good for anything besides helping to carry you through the story if you don't have any decent moves. That should have just stayed the way it was in the original.