I went with 3e
2e has some good points: Settings,s Specialty Priests, Historical Books, The Complete Books (sans most kits not in the Thief or Druid book), PO: Combat and Tactics, PO: Spells and Magic. My favorite edition for official supplements.
4e also has some good things: balance between classes, no level drain, no 3e XP costs, non-spellcasting Rangers as default, removing most non-biological aspects or race and making them feats, disease track, heroic tier multi-classing, Feywild, Warlord, magic missile requiring to hit roll (before the Compendium reversed this), better WOTC supplements (in general) than 3e with the exception for PHB3 and the scattering out both giants and demons among various books which felt like a money grab (I still hold 3e Unearthed Arcana and Fiendish Codex 1 above the 4e supplements. It is just that I think WOTC class and race books sucked hardcore as did the later books)
3e, however wins. Mechanically, I prefer it to 2e. 4e, while having some improvements over 3e including the big one of clas balance) has more deal breakers for me including the skill system (skills are too broad and there are too few for my tastes and I dislike the +1/2 level bonus). 3e also has the benefit of Unearthed Arcana and specific third party material that allows me to both "fix" the areas of 3e that I dislike and customize the game more to my liking.
2e has some good points: Settings,s Specialty Priests, Historical Books, The Complete Books (sans most kits not in the Thief or Druid book), PO: Combat and Tactics, PO: Spells and Magic. My favorite edition for official supplements.
4e also has some good things: balance between classes, no level drain, no 3e XP costs, non-spellcasting Rangers as default, removing most non-biological aspects or race and making them feats, disease track, heroic tier multi-classing, Feywild, Warlord, magic missile requiring to hit roll (before the Compendium reversed this), better WOTC supplements (in general) than 3e with the exception for PHB3 and the scattering out both giants and demons among various books which felt like a money grab (I still hold 3e Unearthed Arcana and Fiendish Codex 1 above the 4e supplements. It is just that I think WOTC class and race books sucked hardcore as did the later books)
3e, however wins. Mechanically, I prefer it to 2e. 4e, while having some improvements over 3e including the big one of clas balance) has more deal breakers for me including the skill system (skills are too broad and there are too few for my tastes and I dislike the +1/2 level bonus). 3e also has the benefit of Unearthed Arcana and specific third party material that allows me to both "fix" the areas of 3e that I dislike and customize the game more to my liking.