In case you haven't noticed yet, nearly all 1E to 3.5 Fighters did a lot of damage. Everyone maxed out their Fighters, or at least IME. In 1E, it was Swords of Sharpness and Girdles of Giant Strength. In 3.5, it was feats, magic weapons, and ability score boost items.
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I would seriously question that. In 3.5 once you were over level 12 the fighter may have a big number written on their character sheet, but they did not do a lot of damage.
They need to hit whihc fist means they need to get in range.
Evasion was so easy much of the time the fighter was simply out of the combat. Only the casters were in the combat able to achieve something from round to round.
Also the casters were able to do a lot more damage.
I've played casters from the core books only in D&D 3.x and frankly I could break them every time. Add to that obscene magic items and horribly broken prestige classes and there was no point playing anything else.
The fighters are simply left walking about trying to run after things to hit them while the casters swan around doing everything.
the spells had So much utility it meant the casters ould do everything better than the people who were meant to do it. Clerics were the best at fighting and mages could deal obscene damage while under a cover of enormous buffs.
Rituals are now the home of the utility magic; and good. They are accessible by anyone if you want, and they are out of combat
As for arguments about "well good GMs could make anything work ok" Well yes they can, but in 4th ed even average or a bit
GMs can make a good game.
The reason why Gms can save a game is they know when to say yes and when to say no. But 4th clears the lines so much that they don't need to nearly as often making things more fun for everyone.
The constant buffing in 3.x was insane too. Every door you opened you'd essentially have to cast a million spells before you started.
But the worst of it all was for the GM, because there were so many stupid spells you had to prepare against, and not only that you also had to run monsters as spell casters and they were as hard as PCs to play, but you needed to run 4-5 of them every session. Far too much work.
I have played both casters and mundane characters. Last time I played I picked a rogue. Id occasionally hit and do my 20 points of damage, I had some sneaky combos of magic items and funky swords. Then the mage with his silly broken prestige class would twin cast fireballs dealing 50 damage to 10 targets. It happened all the time. It was dull.
4e everyone can DO SOMETHING in every encounter. it is more fun.
In 4e the GM doesn't have as big a headache = more fun
4e the GMs prep is easier meaning he can spend more time on plot and developement that he would have been spending on looking through spell books = more fun
in 4e Rituals can do all the utility stuff and if you want to take your cahracter down that route anyone can do them. = more fun
and a few classes arnt so far ahead that playing the others is just playing second fiddle to them. = more fun.
The only arguments people seem to have are that "my wizard isn't god anymore, this game is not fun now"
Of course the need for such a plethora of strict rules in the first place is another matter.
