Yep before I got this game I would have agreed with you. I'm 54yrs old and have been playing pinball since I was about 10 and have had a small collection at home that I have moved a few titles through over the last 8 years. I also often play at friends places who have larger collections.
I have always prided myself at keeping factory setting and not dumbing my games down. I play reasonably well and have won a few local comps over the years and have my name as GC on various games.
So I think I have enough experience to be able to call JP an outlane drain monster compared to most other pins.
I have noticed that many of the top YouTube streamers will now slide machines across the floor to save a SDTM ball. I used to think this was cheating, but after much debate here I now agree that if you can do so without tilting then that is fair play.
My game is on carpet, so no sliding for me. But have been able to modify my gameplay so that I can push on the machine and flex the legs enough to save a SDTM and get a warning but not tilt. That skill has made me a better player on all games.
On my JP my average game would be about 300-400mill with my GC 1.250billion
But even after 2000 plays I have never got to the Visitor Centre (have been a couple of shots away fom it) and that is mostly due to the huge wide open outlane drains.
JP left outlane measuring the gap diagonally between the rubbers is 4cm that is huge. My Pin-Bot is 3cm which some also call an outlane drain monster but I find with practice I have some control over. That extra cm means that some balls heading for the outlane go straight through without touching the rubbers at all even when I give the machine a sharp push at the exact time resulting in a warning but still a clear drain.
This results in me feeling cheated by the game. (With the new posts the gap will still be more than Pin-Bot)
Yep I could play better and never miss a shot so never hit the slings and never get an outlane drain from them, how do you go with that?
Sometimes I can nail combos 6 shots in a row or more that are perfect and progress through the game quickly. Then I can get multiball and can lose three balls all at the same time. IMO good games depend on luck too much.
I wonder how many players that have GCs over 1 billion can get high scores like that consistently? or do they have some games when the slings send all their balls to the outlanes in less than 2mins.
IMO these outlanes have been designed with operators in mind, not home owners. I enjoy a fast and difficult game, but JP is just a bit too difficult for my liking.
I have sold previous games because my average game went for 45mins on them and they become easy and boring. Getting the balance right is hard.
I would love to be able to get through the wizard modes of this game without modifying the outlanes and I will keep trying to do so until my new posts arrive which will probably take 2 months.
But as others have said and I am now starting to agree with, these are our games so we should do whatever pleases us with them