As an addition, the monster "status" are an (IMO) under-used mechanic :

Have the players face ogres as [Solo] when level 1, as [Elite] when level 5, as [Standard] at level 10, and so on.

Do something similar with other creatures and you can really show (as opposed to tell) the principles of fiction that 4e can leverage for awesome stories.

This is not to say that everything can, or should, be adjusted to players - merely that when it's story-appropriate, the tools are there to make it work.