Wait... When I decided to join, I thought we're supposed to get the first badge before the deadline, as well as not make any story/badge/level progress until after the deadline. :/
So does this mean by the time I'll get the first badge before or around this weekend, everyone else will already be beyond level 15 and already has more than 1 badge?
Can someone clarify this for me?
It appears just Danica went past the first badge. You have until June 27th to get the first badge and reach the level cap for that section of the campaign. As soon as you get to that point you may start battling others. If no one else does, I will at least wait for you to get the first badge. The first level cap is level 20 and then increases by 5 after each gym. Jim edited the level caps incorrectly. They are:
Stone Badge (Roxanne): up to level 20 (14)
Knuckle Badge (Brawly): up to level 25 (16)
Dynamo Badge (Wattson): up to level 25 (21)
Heat Badge (Flannery): up to level 30 (28)
Balance Badge (Norman): up to level 35 (30)
Feather Badge (Winona): up to level 40 (35)
Mind Badge (Liza and Tate): up to level 45 (45)
Rain Badge (Wallace): up to level 50 (46)
Elite Four: up to level 60-65 (59)
The numbers in () are the levels of the strongest pokemon in that gym. So for Roxanne, her strongest pokemon is a level 14 nosepass, Brawly's is a level 16 makuhita, etc.
I believe we will advance as a group to the next section as soon as everyone hits the cap and has conducted at least a battle or two.