User blog comment:B214/Jellal and OPed characters should appear less/@comment-24066070-20140903210757

The problem with most top-tier chars is that they are overhyped during their introduction and/or later comments made by random chars. Add to this the fact that their hype is based on vague titles and claims (for example, a char could be stated as "being capable to solo an entire Guild", but there is a vast difference in the strength of all the different Guilds, thus making it difficult to judge just how strong the char really is)

When push comes to shove, both "good" and "bad" uber mages are downgraded for plot reasons. Strong bad guys would obviously win if they lived up to their hype, whereas strong good guys would result in an easy victory for the good guys. Therefore all sorts of limitations are applied to prevent these chars from "rampaging at full power".

Strong chars come and go with each Arc and Natsu nearly always claims the spotlight by beating the main villain. That's FT's storyline in a nutshell.