Clerics had access to every spell in the book.
Note how clerics aren't wizards.
And when you get to 3.0 and 3.5 even for wizards you put a lot more control in the hands of the players.
I wouldn't know as I never played 3X...and we're not talking about 3X. We're talking about AD&D.
Again, LFQW is a well accepted part of the history of the game -
What memes and folk wisdom people accept doesn't matter. We're not talking about that. We're talking about the rules of the game as written...as per your insistence a few posts ago...
This is true, but "what the rules allowed but the DM does not" is a per-table variable that really has nothing to do with the balance within an edition. That needs be judged on the rules of the edition itself.
Unless you've changed your mind on that point. Which would be...convenient.
you're not really going to be able to make an argument it didn't exist.
I'm not trying to. Quadratic wizards absolutely existed. They were a thing. The
cause of them was the DM...not the rules. DMs not actually following the RAW of the game and letting wizard players have way more say in what spells their characters got than the RAW permitted is what
caused quadratic wizards.
So what's the balance of AD&D wizards? As per your insistence, the variable of the DM's rulings must be set aside and we can only look at the RAW.
AD&D DMG, p39.
At 1st level, wizards get
read magic plus four randomly determined spells from a short list. There's a 10% chance of the player getting to choose a spell from the full list, but certain spells are explicitly banned for 1st-level wizards, two of the most commonly chosen spells I might add. Yep, the DMG explicitly bans 1st-level wizards from starting with
Tenser's Floating Disc. Of note is that
only these spells are automatically known. For every other spell acquired, the PC must roll to learn the spell.
At each level the PC wizard gets to add a single spell to their spellbook. The rules are non-specific about if it's a random roll or a choice. It's also non-specific if this spell is subject to the learning a spell roll. So how this is handled is up to DM fiat.
The DMG is also explicit that NPC wizards will not easily share their knowledge. Asking exorbitant prices or equivalent exchange for sharing spells, but also only permitted by DM fiat.
Every other spell the wizard gets is found...aka DM fiat.
So again, quadratic wizards absolutely were a thing that happened. But clearly that's not RAW. DMs ignoring the above restrictions is what caused quadratic wizards.