I’m not sure I understand what you mean by ‘progress’? The new layout has all the old features, and you can pretty much use them straight on sign-up. 
If you’re concerned about Trust Levels, getting to level 2 is really easy. There’s a bit more about them in Trust Levels and Badges?, and there’s also a handy Badge guide (with notes 
) in Forum Badges 
.
I wouldn’t worry about the Badges too much. And Trust Level 2 gives you photo privileges, but not much else (and viewing them is open to anybody, it’s only the posting of them that’s restricted to people who have been around at least a couple of weeks ).