Catch, fish, breed, battle, trade or compete — whichever of those you actually enjoy, there's a levelled track behind it and something worth earning at the end. No forced path, no falling behind, and nothing on the store that skips it.
Progression for how you play
Hunts — three independent levelling tracks for catching, fishing and breeding, each 1–100 with its own board, points and shop
Pokédex Ranks — 10 ranks of permanent account perks and weekly kits, earned by filling your dex
Battle Pass — free and premium tracks, filled just by playing
Quests & Research Tasks — daily, weekly, monthly and long-form chains, plus research for every species
31-day daily ladder, global leaderboards and server-wide tasks
Battling
Complete National Dex — all 1,025 Pokémon
Every gimmick — Mega, Z-Moves, Dynamax, Gigantamax, Terastallization
Ranked — ELO Singles & Doubles with seasonal top-100 payouts
Towns with NPC gyms, an Elite Four and a Champion — plus rematch and challenge modes
Safari Zone · UltraSpace and its Ultra Beasts · Area Zero and its Paradox Pokémon · dedicated resource worlds
Economy
GTS — Pokémon and items, fixed-price or auction, in-game or from the web
PokéSell — sell wild catches by value, with a daily 5× species bounty
Chest shops & Wonder Trade — automated storefronts and global random trades
Ten minigames
Racing · Soccer · Sumo · Crane Game · Voltorb Flip and a full arcade
Strictly non-pay-to-win
The store sells cosmetics, crates, skins and boosts — nothing that touches battling, catching or the economy. Every perk worth having is earnable free.