Quote from: Tyberious FunkI had a fucking annoying GM that use to pull some of this shit.  He'd frequently try and coerce players towards particular actions.  I remember him practically begging the group not to sell a magic item we recovered - no-one particularly wanted the item and we figured it was worth a fair bit.  He must have spent 30 minutes telling us why we were stupid to be selling it.
 
Sometimes he'll just flat out veto the actions of a player on the grounds that they were not "in character".
 
But he also makes recommendations to the players every time their characters level... trying to help them to make optimal character builds.  Sometimes he even go so far as to edit character sheets with all his suggestions.   "I just wrote down the spells I think you'll want.  Of course, you can change them if you really want."

I hate that shit. Unfortunately micromanagement from behind the screen is all too common, in my experience. Most offenders I've encountered are a little more subtle about it, though. They'll disallow certain feats, powers or spells, until all you're left with is what they think your character should select. It's total bollocks, and I won't stand for it.

That said, I like being able to provide hints and tips for optimising strategy and progressing through plot points, although I always make it a buy-in option that the players have a real choice over. In True20 for example the expenditure of 1 Conviction would allow a character to perceive a potential weakness in their enemies tactics during combat, or would let the player know which Feat I considered most useful for their next level. It's entirely up to them if they want to make use of it, and they're free to ignore anything and everything I advise them on.