Agreed. I lurk in libera's japanese language channel in order to read the messages. It's been a big help.
> You'll probably notice in your Japanese adventure that a big thing is that you're probably way better at parsing words and sounds
Absolutely. I'm getting a lot better at parsing out the components of sentences, especially the particles, even in fast speech. My understanding is still pretty basic but this skill allows me to at least try to infer information from context. It's a great way to puzzle out meaning and it's amazing when I get it right.
> exposure of longer form content, something Duolingo-like apps (not all apps) don't provide
That's partially true. Duolingo has stories but I think they're somewhat basic. It's just not the same as really immersing oneself in another culture. I'm not supplementing Duolingo with japanese books or anything but I enjoy watching japanese stuff so I have at least some exposure.
The most important thing about Duolingo is it got me started. I've been progressing over 2 years now. Almost 1000 days.