Alexander always does such great articles.
I think this is one of those fundamental problems which really just comes down to “Different people have different, often conflicting, ideas of what D&D should feel like”. There’s never going to be an answer to this which pleases everyone.
If WOTC made high-level play more about politics and realm management, some portion of players would feel alienated since they didn’t sign up for D&D: Crusader Kings edition.
But if they make it so high-level is all about soloing Gods, that’s going to alienate people who didn’t sign up for D&D: DBZ edition
I think that main problem is lack of support for the former. Some people really like to do that, but rolling your own is hard. There are some third party supplement that might fit.
I highly recommend MCDM’s “Kingdoms and Warfare”.
