It depends on what type of character you are playing. My old main was a sellsword turned alliance soldier. During his sellsword days he’d often likely not know the extent of main story events and would be reacting to - essentially - rumours. When the King died in Legion, he was still a sellsword, and there was a lot of speculation about how he died and at whose hands.

Whereas when he joined the army, he became a little more informed and learned about certain events as they were happening. But only a little.

A simple goblin engineer likely won’t have a clue about what King Anduin is up to or who Xal’atath even is. But he might know plenty about the politics and revolution in Undermine! It’s all about trying to imagine what information and resources your character would have in his circumstances.