... you have to nonetheless admit that approaching 200 hours (on what I understand was a successful character) while empowered to level 40 is pretty darn discouraging.

We get it, by the way. Being an admin often feels like a thankless job (often dealing with raging players) and that something which you considered fun in the past may now seem like a tedious task. Despite that, I cannot imagine this type of a remark feeling good to the player. You may not have meant it that way, but it does come off as a "deal with it" response.