The fireball spell through the editions

[Ahglock]

Not really. I always enjoyed the volume aspect of fireball, the bouncing lightning bolts, and other quirky parts of magic use. These sorts of things, along with declaring spell use and rolled initiative each round helped keep casters from being quite so dominating in play. Once spells got super reliable and it became more difficult to disrupt casting in 3E, the power of spell use got a boost, which inspired a perceived need to tone down casters. Hackmaster has some really awesome fireball variants that I want to play with sometime.

I loved that stuff, it kept magic magical for me. Once it got reliable it just became a tool. I wont knock the benefits that can come with it, but I prefer slower and clunkier if I can have my cool.

 

[Xris Robin]

The 4E Fireball is weaker, but it's not a career spell. It's a 5th level Daily, and you'll likely replace it at a higher level.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

It'd be cool to have bouncing lightning bolts for 3E, not so sure about larger fireballs that fill the entire spell....

One thing to remember about the 3E "weakening" of fireball (the cap was from 2E, as noted, so any weakenng was from outside factors like more hp): it's not the same as prior editions. In 3E, you can maximize and/or empower that fireball, or cast DB Fireball at level 7 with a higher cap. Or Quicken it and cast two in a round. Or go out of core and add things like Energy Admixture. The fireball's damage only stagnates if you do nothing to take advantage of being high level (ie, high level spell slots). The hp increases are an issue, but for evocation as a whole.