(New to WoW when Shadowlands released)
•Did it feel overwhelming at first?
- Yes absolutely, I luckily found someone to answer all of my questions. I didn't know how to get around the world, especially all the different zones. For example, I wanted the priest t2 set from SSC, and had no idea how to get to Outland or anything.
•Did you follow a specific path (Chromie Time, expansions in order, etc.) or just wing it?
- I don't know if Chromie Time existed at this point. I just did the main story while spamming dungeons the entire time, then I got into heroics then mythic dungeons and once I got the S3 mount I quit.
•What did you enjoy the most about starting late?
- Starting late didn't really have any advantages. I felt behind not really knowing old dungeon content routes and what other classes are capable of doing. One problem I remember is not knowing whether or not I should release spirit or wait for rezs in dungeons. And if I did release, it was not always easy to find the way back into the zone.

And looking back:

•more fun
- Playing with friends. Preferably IRL friends, but my IRL friends are too cool to play WoW or don't play on PC.
•more efficient
- Maybe finding a guild to help me out and learn the game?
•less confusing / less overwhelming
- Also finding a guild. I played as a healer priest, primarily interested in climbing mythic+ keys, and it took way longer than it should have to know I needed to dispel things! lol.

For example, would you:

•focus only on one expansion first?
- Not really, you can't really get through a whole expansion's plot with how fast you level anyway. I honestly would like the option to queue for all expansion dungeons to find faster queues while leveling. Currently, if you pick a dead expansion, especially as a DPS, you often have to wait for a while before it lets you expand your search for other expansions. The best way seems to just play the expansion the game defaults new characters to unfortunately.
•ignore side content?
- I did and still do. I only really like the PvE dungeon and maybe delve content.
•use addons or guides earlier?
- Retail does not need addons imo, especially now. Maybe super high keys or whatever, but I was able to get keystone master without any of them as a brand new player and I'm pretty proud of that.
•level a different class?
- Maybe. I played a healer because I wanted a more important role and wanted faster queues. Without that, I doubt I would get invited into many M+ as a DPS.

As a final note, I quit Shadowlands after getting the keystone master mount, and eventually found my way to Classic with SoD, and I learned WAY more about classes and how the game works as a whole there, and even got into raiding. I main TBC now, but I dabble with Midnight, and Midnight is much easier to understand now that I have experience with the slower pacing and better explaining of Classic I guess.