Here's an example. In 3.5, Control Winds was a 5th level druid spell that let you raise the level of "wind" by one factor for every 3 caster levels, and had a massive range (in the miles). Combine that with a pearl of power that boosts your divine caster level by 4, and you could make a calm breeze into a hurricane by 11th level.
So I did that! And I flattened a town that an enemy of the party was hiding in to flush him out. After the session, the DM asked me if I could not do that trick anymore because he just didn't have a logical way to counter it, and it would make the game less fun to try. So I said "Of course, no problem", and didn't do that anymore.
Was I being a problem player? I don't think so. It was a bog standard PHB spell, a pretty common magic item, and once you saw how the spell worked, an obvious tactic to use. Using something built into the core books with a minimum of outside synergies and yet was able to cause campaign shaking problems, to me, points to a problem with the books. If I had continued to use that combination because it's "legal", despite being aware of the problems it caused in the campaign, then I would become a problem player.