I object to the idea that this is a straw man, Statesman. Rather, your counterargument itself attacks something of a straw man.
If the minions become more powerful as you do, they may not be "the same minions that you fought at level one." However, the objection at the core of this complaint is not that the enemies don't change. It is that you never become porportionately more powerful than your enemies. When this is the case, you lose the sense that you're becoming more powerful as you level up.
That's the complaint. I don't care if I'm taking on Hellion grunts or Rikti grunts. They're grunts. But by level fifty, I'm a poor superhero if I see four villians drawn from the weakest ranks of my enemies harming a civilian and have to retreat in fear.
And from a gameplay perspective, it is depressing. The consideration system is a means of gaging a challenge. For example, if a hero is supposed to be able to take on three even con minions and your hero can take on four, you might feel some pride in your skill, since you can take on a greater challenge than other players. Likewise, if at level fifty, you still, for all your additional powers, cannot face down four even level minions, why even bother being level fifty? Sure, you have more powers, but you aren't more powerful. The powers simply serve to compensate for the increasing strength of your enemies.
The result is simple. At level one, soloing, you look for a group of one to three even con enemies. Woo, I can take three guys at once!. At level ten? Same. At level thirty? Still three guys. At fourty-nine? Golly, not much has changed.
In contrast, if you become porportionately more powerful, then maybe at level thirty, you might think about attacking five even con minions. Or two and a boss. Or three and a lieutentant.
And maybe it will feel like something has changed since level one besides a few numbers in a database and some polygons. And better yet, you might just lose that weird feeling of shame you get when you see some old lady in danger, count the enemies, and realize that your mighty hero, savour of the city countless times, still can't take on four minions.
Of course, there will be a limit. But Superman goes for help when he sees an invasion, not when he sees a survey team.
I'm perfectly aware that there's a good counterargument for this, but the mighty Statesman will have to fight a more powerful foe than his own little strawman to make it...
