I've been messing around with the game over the weekend bouncing between various modes and so far cleared about around ten or so character stories, the first another story chapter, and the main story up through chapter 4. The grid-based combat feels like it has so much potential but I really haven't felt like I've seen anything yet that required me to strategize, and normal battles feel like a slog; the lowest point was near the end of chapter 4 when the game inexplicably had 4-5 nodes in a row that were all virtually the exact same four-wave fight with the Amane bosses. The randomness of the disc system seems to massively discourage any team size above three characters, and even then since it doesn't deal from the deck the same way FGO does, you can't predict what hand you'll get for any given turn (I did hear some characters have unique equippable skills that let you force their discs for a turn, which I guess is why they're higher tier).I mean, I could type out a detailed plan of action to get you into the game (i.e., things to start out doing first), but if you don't enjoy the core gameplay/story itself, I doubt it'll help much. :(
There's no way to tweak auto unfortunately, aside from being able to tell the game to use skills/Magia in the beginning rounds or save everything for the final one. It can be hit-or-miss, so for truly difficult content (if you opt to not double Madoka it) you'll probably want direct control.
As for the double New Years question, they've been doubling down on seasonal events to help catch us up to Japan (which will likely happen by the year end), so things have been kind of hectic as of late and I don't expect it to slow down anytime soon (double summer, probably double Anniversary, etc.).
Sorry I'm in a rush right now, so I can't type out more. If you're serious about really wanting to learn the inner workings of the game (or tips/tricks/etc.) I could try to type something out in a bit when I have more time.
Edit:
Step One: Grab Madoka with the Mitama Ticket on the 8th. First work on leveling/evolving her. The Light XP dungeon starts on Thursday, and the Evolution Dungeon on Friday. Don't stop until you have her evoolved to 5* and at max level. After this, find as many Madoka friends as you can. You can basically Double Madoka all PVE content in the game, aside for a few instances.
Step Two: Work through the New Year Mitama's event, as it's limited time. If it works similar to New Year Madoka's event, there won't be a ton of items in the shop so it'll be pretty easy to clear out the useful items. Do the story content for the event first (as it unlocks), and then up to the highest Challenge you can do. Trade in the event currency for items.
Step Three: Work on leveling between 1-2 girls of each element. Do to how the game works, you want to run smaller teams so you can connect/gain Magia. Thankfully there are a handful of useful/common girls that are great when evolved.
Fire: Tsuruno (2*)
Water: Yachiyo (2*) Nanaka (3*)
Wind: Kako (2*) Kaede (3*)
Light: All you need is Madoka to start, but if you want more, Oriko (3*) is great. Iroha is nice too.
Dark: Felicia (2*)
That being said, you could use Madoka for pretty much anything, since as I mentioned the Double Madoka strategy is too strong. It might not be the fastest but it's extremely reliable. I'd still work on these characters though, as they have their uses and it's always nice to work towards a mono element team if you can. Obviously if you get lucky and snag another 4*, work them in.
Step Four: Work on clearing the main story. You can do this before or after step three, as Madoka is enough to get you through it. The Challenge Maps and such can come later, as they're just a source of free Magia Gems and nothing else. Magical Girl stories can only be fully completed once you unlock their respective bonds to 5, which can take a while. It'll allow them to unlock their Doppel (a stronger form of their Magia), but can be delayed until we get our next Mitama Training event (as both the event girl during it, and one of your choosing, gets a nice increase to their XP and bond gain when you run those event maps with them in the team, making it much easier to hit bond 5).
That's really it. Beyond that, just do what you want. Grind the events as they happen, and use the currency for any items you need (event-exclusive items, XP, Awakening, CC, etc.).
As for difficulty, none of it is really "super hard", aside from the Nanoha/Fate event (which arrived earlier than expected in the power-creep, but thankfully they nerfed things a bit) and the gauntlet style event we had a few months back. The important items were easily gained, but if you wanted to finish it completely you were in for a rough time). The earlier content in the event (like the main story stuff) is really easy, as it should be, so all players can go through it. The Challenge Maps do have a fair bit of difficulty to them, while still being fair (in most cases), so that's where you'll get the bulk of your strategy from.
I appreciate you going back to type all that up and I'm going to keep playing for a bit more in hopes of finding some kind of interesting battle content, but for the time being I'll probably set the main story aside to farm materials. The inventory doesn't organize/delineate them in terms of rarity as well as FGO though being able to pull up a list of every quest that drops a specific item is nice, but I guess I need to check a wiki anyway to see which is most efficient. The fact that you need to level back up all from level 1 after promotion is a buzzkill too, especially when I'm almost out of the XP items as things stand. It's been two and a half years since the beginning of FGO so I don't really remember what the XP situation was like back then, but I guess it must have felt similar. And I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with memoria; needing to get skills from the gacha feels weird (even though connects are supposed to be the primary means of getting buffs/etc in battle, it seems).
I had skipped over most of the cutscenes for story chapter 2 and the early part of 3, but once we finally started getting human opponents in chapter 4 I started caring again. None of the characters besides Iroha, Yachiyo, and Momoko have anywhere near the charm/personality of the original quintet though.
The fact that the game launched with Double Madoka as a viable strategy to destroy any single-player content when it took FGO three years to get Skadi memes does make me wonder about overall balance, but I'll see what I can find.