I'm still relatively new to RNAV procedures (since I installed a GTN 650 in September 2017), but so far, my clearances are always direct to one of the waypoints on the crossbar of the T (i.e. the IWP or one of the IAWPs), sometimes from 50nm away, with the approach clearance issued just before I get there. It's far, far simpler than the clearances I used to get with conventional approaches.
My home airport doesn't have its own STARs, but in Canada (at least in books), we have the concept of "open" and "closed" RNAV STARs -- I don't think the US uses the same terminology, but you likely have the same concept. An "open" STAR is one that essentially ends on an extended downwind for your runway, and it's up to you to "close" it by navigating from the last WP of the STAR to the first WP of the approach (often a 180deg turn). A "closed" STAR is one where the STAR ends by connecting directly to a waypoint at the beginning of an RNAV procedure.
Without GPS roll steering, closing an open STAR (or the equivalent coming off of a vector) can be a challenge. Your target waypoint will be a couple of miles off one of your wings at your 3:00 or 9:00, and you have to manage a 180deg turn so that you end up on the approach course at the waypoint facing the right direction. I did it once off an opposite-direction vector (not a STAR) in bad weather after a 4 hour flight--I managed fine, but it was enough to convince me to install a GPSS converter a couple of months later.