Holy titfuck no 'lol' is big enough. Wizards fight much better in melee in 2E than fighters. Like, scores better. Stoneskin + Mirror Image + Some variation of Magic Weapon spell (later Tenser's transformation).
Sure, Wizards can outclass fighters in melee in 2E, but it's rarely what you'd call an efficient use of spells (prior to Tenser's anyway). Even Tenser's is a highly limited resource. And it's just as bad or worse in 3E where your melee wizard/sorcerer can take a few mix in levels and also get full benefits from high STR and CON.
On the other hand, Third edition battle clerics are good at melee to begin with and they only need a few buff spells to surpass the fighter. And they don't have to give up much to memorize those spells, since they can always convert them to heals (for free) when needed.
There is a big difference between being able to spend a ton of resources inefficiently to surpass the fighter temporarily and being able to do the fighter's job better than the fighter for several fights in a row, while providing utility and heals as well.
3E also has Book of Nine Swords and Pathfinder, both of which solve the problem (BoNS completely, Pathfinder to a lesser extend). 2E has fuck-all.
I must admit I am unfamiliar with most of the 3rd edition splat books. And counting Pathfinder as 3e is stretching things just a bit.
EVEN if, in a hypothetical experiment, you were right that 2E suffered a bit less from the same problem the issue is for all intends and purposes a moot point. The point is that core fighter-classes suck ass in D&D. Whether they suck marginally less ass in 2E or 3E doesn't matter two fucks.
It's not really a moot point since this came up in the context of CRPGs. Caster supremacy was a constant in P&P, but it was traditionally much less of an issue in D&D CRPGs.Think back on all the party based, non blob D&D simulations released for the PC. Gold Box, Dark Sun 1+2, PoR:ROMD, KoTC, TOEE, NWN2 and all Infinity Engine games.
Warrior characters were highly effective (if not always strictly optimal) in all of the pre third edition games, with the exception of Pools of Darkness where you'd eventually want to dual class everybody due to the ridiculous amounts of EXP that were available.
But this tradition of viable warriors in D&D CRPGs eventually ended with IWD2. IWD2 allowed players to level past the point where 3rd edition balance breaks down.
In IWD2 warriors were
dead weight on the most challenging modes and it was highly recommended to exclude them in favor of casters. It was highly recommended to use casters in both tank and melee damage dealing roles, due to the greater survivability and power that they offered. This epic balance fail was really unprecedented in D&D CRPGs and was in large part a product of the third edition rules.
I kind of forget what we were debating, but yeah, high level third edition = unprecedented balance fail. And since the game is real time, third edition's tactical complexity will mostly be left out anyway.
