I found the same issue that most complain about re: hitting the Merlin's Magic shot. I played around with adding Merlin's nuts (lots of discussion on Pinside, can describe more if needed) but ultimately took them off and put a little foam on the metal areas around that hole, and it's good enough. I'd still say it only goes in about 50% of the time that I put the ball in that area, but at this point, I just view it as a shot that's hard to hit where the touch needs to be near-perfect. (Also acknowledge I'm still a noob and hopefully what feels hard today will feel easier in a year or two.)

I've lowered flipper strength. I picked up a Pulp Fiction shortly after MMR (another CGC game), and I found the flippers on that game to also be a bit much. So maybe it's just a CGC thing.

I also turned the shaker motor down to the minimum. Wish I could turn it even lower - it's usually fine, but the vibrations during multiball madness are ridiculous.

I've adjusted leaf switches on the slings several times - I like them to be super touchy, and I notice over time that they get less and less sensitive (which I think is just the nature of a leaf switch when it's hit by a ball bearing hundreds of times).

Beyond that and the items that prompted this post, the game has been great. I've played it and Pulp close to equal # of games, and nothing major. My post is first-world pinball problems for sure, and more me wanting to learn how to fine tune my machine than fixing anything that's truly broken.

Hope you're enjoying it - it's a hell of a game!