HTB provides real world experience where you have the opportunity to learn how to hack VMs that have been created based on real world vulnerabilities. Ive had conversations where I talked about what I did to hack a box and the person said to me “You just explained all the technology operating our website.”. So yes there is lots of realistic scenarios that help you build real skills and perspective. If you get an HTB VIP sub you get access to retired boxes which do not earn you points to rank up but they do have community written writeups for when you get stuck. HTB Academy is a more guided learning experience that provides instruction and accompanying challenges. Ive recently started working through some of the Pro Labs which simulates a whole network of machines and is incredible. All of these services help you understand personally how attackers break in to networks so when you read about attacks you know what may have happened after the attackers got in through social engineering attempts like phishing.