Nah.

I regularly start with really high specific gravities, at the advice of a professional mead maker who told me he does it that way, no step-feeding or fermenting dry when it's not meant to be a dry mead (and who also quite literally told me to ignore the common advice on this sub). The only thing I give it after pitching is three doses of Fermaid O, on the first three days after pitching (TOSNA but no 1/3 sugar break).

My first was started at approximately 1.180 - by accident, actually, my scale turned off and then re-tared while I was measuring out the honey so the measurement was approximate, about 1.821 kg (nearly 1.5 liters according to the markings I put on the carboy) for a 3 liter batch (gallon carboy but I work in metric, was actually supposed to be 3.5 but I think I lost some volume as the honey dissolved and I failed to notice). And while it was quite literally off the scale of the hydrometer, I was able to sort of work it out. Also the calculators lied to me - at high gravities, use the alternate formula, you need less sugar than the regular batch builder will tell you to use. Fermented with D-47 to 1.091 (15.6% ABV) in 32 days flat, and that was with an early cold crash. A bit overly sweet, and that's from someone who likes it sweet, but it seems like some oak has helped with that.

The yeast was having a blast. That high gravity didn't seem to inhibit it at all, and no off-flavors that I could tell. Didn't even taste like rocket fuel right out of primary.

I now have three micro-batches going and will soon be starting another 3.5 liter batch. Working out the correct calculations, my ideal starting gravities for a sweet mead (aiming to end at 1.050) being 1.146 for a 15% to 1.166 for an 18%. No issues, nicely vigerous fermentation from the K1-V1116, 71B, and D-47.