New Player-- Question

[MistakeNot]

Thank you for this very informational response. While I understand the “Road to 60” buff is extremely beneficial. I want to play the game the way it was meant to be played. I feel like I am missing out on huge swathes of content because of this fact. Perhaps I am wrong. I like that they reduce your level with the duty’s and instanced quests however I am not feeling any particular challenge at all. I died for the first time at 50 on my class quest.

Is there a way this can be turned off? Or do I need to start a new character on one of the standard realms?

You cannot turn off the 'Road to 60' buff, BUT if you switch between multiple classes when doing quests you can spread out all the experience such that you still do quests and dungeons mostly on-level.
Done properly this lets you have the 'correct' experience while still benefiting from the buff. Unfortunately new players rarely know how/when to do this.