I think that's the biggest difference with regard to the spellcasting system in 3E compared to 2E (note, I'm not speaking with regard to 4e).
3E more or less used the same SPELLS as 1e/2e did but the underlying assumptions (Save or Die gets weaker at higher levels in 1e/2e, spells could not be easily combined since wizards did not automatically get spells, you couldn't bypass the number of spells per day limit etc...) were all changed.
Scry-Buff-Teleport for example, simply did not exist in 1e/2e unless the DM purposely gave you those options.
Knock in 1e/2e for example is balanced/fair. Knock in 3E is way too good, even though the spell descriptions are almost exactly the same.
3E more or less used the same SPELLS as 1e/2e did but the underlying assumptions (Save or Die gets weaker at higher levels in 1e/2e, spells could not be easily combined since wizards did not automatically get spells, you couldn't bypass the number of spells per day limit etc...) were all changed.
Scry-Buff-Teleport for example, simply did not exist in 1e/2e unless the DM purposely gave you those options.
Knock in 1e/2e for example is balanced/fair. Knock in 3E is way too good, even though the spell descriptions are almost exactly the same.