I guess "utter nonsense" is much worse than regular "nonsense". There is still a good point to make here, which is that large parties for me become very tedious as the levels increase. There is only so much party operation that I am willing to manage during each combat round. For high level parties, I tend to forget the 112 spells known by my mages/clerics/bards, and the 14 different weapon proficiencies and potions my fighters have, etc. So if you look at the issue from that point of view, maybe it is better start with a slightly larger party at low levels, then drop a few of them off at higher levels ... unless the AI is good enough where I can just give general commands and don't have to manage every little detail.
