I have an AS LE, had it since the beginning. We play it routinely, but not a lot every day (have several pins, and two kids that keep us busy). My playfield still looks perfect and my cabinet is fine. I actually just put on cliffy's and a few mods over the weekend so really looked it over close.

My GB Premium from last year also looks perfect.

As for the cabinets, I've either been fine, they are a small percentage, or we nudge nicely (not a lot of death saves).

Yeah, the more I think about some of this the more I can see Stern's point about it being normal(ish). I don't like the new ghosting happening so quick, but I think it can and will happen over time. It may be that the more modern thicker clear coats simply don't crack easily so a gap forms if there is any movement of the insert compared to the wood. It's just way more visible (compared to a hairline crack) so it is now a bigger issue. However, that doesn't explain why Stern seems to have the worse problem (maybe they just sell way more so they get into more environments).

The wood and the plastic inserts are always going to have some movement at their edge. The wood expands and contracts, the insert will not. I guess if the hole was just perfect then the wood expanding and contracting could possibly not move on the edge of the insert, but I would guess that's an impossibility at the microscopic level.

Me, I'm just going to play my games. They look great still, but are in my livingroom or converted garage at a pretty constant humidity and temperature. I keep the house at 75F and the dehumidifier keeps it under 55%RH. Makes me wonder if the temp changes/humidity changes are affecting the new games more... I haven't seen any ghosting of my new games including GB and AS.

If you look at your inserts on STTNG though they are all cracked all the way around. That's what I've been noticing on the older pins, the inserts crack the clear and then start wearing. The new pins, the inserts don't crack the clear but rather separate from the clear somewhat along the edge and you see the ghosting. Your BK2000 also has some cracking around the edges of the inserts and that crazing is wild.

Again some is normal, but not sure where the line of excessive comes in. Obviously new playfields with cracking/chipping clear after 50-100 games is a big problem, ghosting sucks too but we may just be stuck with this going forward. I've seen many CPR playfields and restored playfields with cracking around the inserts too. Especially on the older bally/stern games where the playfield isn't supported well when you raise it. That rotational force will crack the clearcoat.

I shouldn't have said 'all'. Many of the STTNG are cracked all the way around.