I can't wait. It's so much fun every year. However I don't know what language I will use this year, sadly most likely either Julia or Python instead of something new and exciting because I'll be working full time during December - I took some time off last year for AoC.
What's the best order to tackle these if you've never done any year before and wanted to work your way through them all at your own pace (skipping the competitive aspects of leaderboards etc.)
Are there spoilers, callbacks and references that make it best to start at the beginning and work chronologically? Is there ranking of difficulty (and/or fun) that let you start easy and work your way up?
I'd do just that. Start with the first, try to solve it in reasonable time. If you're stuck you can visit the subreddit. They're unlocked on each day at a specific time, but if you don't look up solutions there are no spoilers. You can also solve each day individually. As for difficulty, the first part of the day is simpler, and solving it unlocks the second - and harder - part.
But the story definitely builds over the 25 days, so there are spoilers in the later parts.
