I have adjustable dropouts on my frame which will affect the HA, chainstay length and BB height.
When I first built up the bike I always used the steepest setting because as you mentioned slacking it up will lower the BB which will result in more banging of pedals. However I did enjoy the slacker setting whenever riding something where pedal clearance was not an issue..
So what is the solution? Can’t have it all?
I have a Lyrik fork, and it was the solo air model. To keep it sensitive I was running pretty low air pressure. This made it sensitive, but also kept it running pretty deep in it’s travel. When the fork is low in it’s travel it means the BB is lower resulting in hitting pedals more… I added some more air and things improved, but the fork lost it’s sensitivity to small stuff.
Finally I changed the air spring for a coil spring, got the best of all worlds and as a result I can use a slacker setting and bang my pedals less then I used to on the steeper setting. Now I have 66 HA and still climb technical stuff (a lot of this stuff I could not clear with my old trail bikes that had 68HA) just fine.
A lot of changes affect other things too, you need to see the big picture. I’d prefer wider bars but can’t do it due to riding a lot of paths with tight tree’s. You need to pick what works for you, and see if you can find solutions to what you want and can’t achieve.