In the case I'm thinking of, the player is up against a Mithrilar that using a mortal avatar.
The main point being is that I'd like to dispense with the wimpy (oh look, I can now have a club) beginnings and start players out much more powerful.
Elemental has all kinds of powerful spells in it, volcanos, meteror storms, tidal waves, but few people ever see it and we had to totally nerf other easier things because they made the game imbalanced.
But if you make the player and their enemies going for different goals you can set things up so that they can do horrible things to each other without it breaking the game play.
All for this. Always been a fan of the original concept of a badass attempting to restore the world. Full of essence (i.e. overly powerful) and able to dispense the essence to accomplish goals - but becoming weaker over time.
I have way more fun with a jacked up sovereign and jacked up enemy sovs as well.
I sometimes set my sov up with a 15-20 power weapon, base shield, base leather armor with 1 magic piece, a mount and 10-15 customization points.
I set the other sovs up the same way.
The power from that lasts till about late 'early' game, still overpowered by better troops but the beefed up Sov 'feels' better and helps with all the easy mobs. Eventually can upgrade EQ and if leveled well can solo or duo a lot of items. Still powerful, but by that point needs attention and some babysitting.
Much more fun to play IMO.