Agreed, this is completely unnecessary and so confusing for new users. I see this a a major downside of the coin that will affect adoption especially since there is no easy way to get the account. Contrary to what others, and especially devs, might think, setting up a wallet, figuring out how to use Slack and asking a Bot for and account (provided the bot works and devs aren't on vacation at the moment) is certainly not simple and not an easy way.
I'd love to hear from devs if there is any benefit or technological requirement for this indeed very weird implementation.
Absolutely. I don't see why I should care about a coin that can't be used until you buy some on an exchange then use it to buy an account. Banks don't charge to open accounts. If they did no one would use them.
Of the dozen other wallet setups I've used for different coins, this is by far the worst.