I don't think the problem has anything to do with too many options.
It's not that there are too many feats, PrC's, what have you.
The problem is that there is very little material that tells a newbie what to do with all these bits.
Eliminating classes, or races, or feats is going in the wrong direction. People love diversity and options. That's one of the things WotC has done right with 3.x giving people more options is a good thing.
The key is letting them know that those options exist, and how those options can benefit them.
Look at the field of consumer electronics.
My father is NOT electronicl talented. I had purchased him numerous different VCR's, and he rarely made it past being able to play pre-recorded tapes. In some cases, he would barely do even that, because while the machine was loaded with options and features, he had NO idea how to use those features!
Finally I found a simpler model machine. It had all the same options, but everything was accessible through one button on the remote. The menus were clear and easy to understand.
With the more user-friendly machine my dad can now record programs, watch movies - heck, he even managed to set the clock!
D&D needs a "One-Touch" feature for D&D.
Maybe a companion book, or alternate PHB that comes right out and says "This is what the fighter class does."
You know, kind of a "Here are several styles of fighter - the Tank, the nimble warrior, the exotic weapon master, etc"
Then the book should go further and say things like "If you want to play the Tank, you want STR X, and CON X, etc. Choose X Feats and Y Skills and at each level, here are the viable choices for you."
They kind of did this with the "Starting Packages" in the PHB, but for a real basic/newbie game, they needed to be much more plain, and in-your-face.
I had hoped that the often maligned Hero Builders Guidebook would be such a product, but it just didn't work out like that.
The Power Gamer's guides are similar, but they go too far into the esoterica IMO.
A new player doesn't need to be min-maxed, just have a functional PC that they understand.
A newbie's guide also needs a section telling the player how to play their PC.
"If you are playing the Healing Cleric Archetype you will need to do thus and so. Heal your allies at such and such a time. And heal them in this order, using these spells under these conditions. ie. Heal the fighter first, and if his hp are at 1/2, use a Cure X Wounds.
Solid, basic dungeon adventuing advice that most of us picked up on the fly as we were taught by other players. Things like
The Tank goes in the front of the party.
Never split the party up.
Always save at least one healing potion, etc.
Obviously, there should also be a similar section for DM's telling them similar basic info.
"If your party is composed of W, X, Y, and Z then a reasonable challenge for this level is Q."
It's not that the game is too hard. Young kids are capable of picking up some fairly complex games. I have played enough Civilization 3 and MtG with tweens to know this!
But to do so they need solid advice and examples.
Fill a book with that kind of material, and they will make excellent use of the Core 3 books.
