It's not until 3rd level or later where characters even start finding a good concept to run with. That's one of the reasons I highly dislike starting from 1st and am kinda annoyed when starting from 2nd.
Hearty +1. I generally refuse to play 1st level characters. It's then that meaningful choices are more readily available and characters start to distinguish from each other. Although a handful of alchemist fire flasks can make a Wizard a credible thread sans spells at 2nd level in most games.
Bronzebeard, you quoted me out of context. What I wrote was:
If you think the limitations per day is a horrible mechanic, then you probably want to revise your initial consideration of not wanting a new spellcasting system. That's [meaning limitations per day] kind of the fundamental architecture it's built around.
I bring it up not to flog a dead horse (just bear with me ...), but b/c the bolded bit is the point that, so far, seems to be the biggest problem. That is, that they don't have enough spells to keep doing awesome things each round and each encounter. Yet, that kind of limited resource deployment type of decision is the balance point that Vancian Magic is built around. Actually, it seems like that's a lot of what D&D is built around.
That being said, if we've identified the culprit, then we can go about fixing it. You might want to think what kind of firepower you want a Wizard-type to throw around all day. I happen to find the Reserve Feats generally weaksauce, but figure out what you'd want them to be able to do ad infinitum (or effectively so), and go from there.
Personally, I find that it's hard to run out of spells in your standard adventuring day after about level 6 or so. This is doubly so with some small investment into wands, scrolls, etc.
And it's true that wizards is the most powerful class in the game, but that power only comes after the 12th level. Until then, they are one of the more miserable playing experience that you can offer.
This seems ... untrue. I mean, once your humble Web comes online you can do pretty amazing things. By 10th level I can be halfway through Malconvoker, and making most melee characters sob themselves to sleep in the corner since I've taken all their roles by casting a spell or two per combat.
This:
Just this week one of the players went home, according to what he told me, very frustrated and disappointed from not being able to contribute or do anything fun. (The party is level 2 by the way). He asked me that if he doesn't have fun then what's the point, and why should he even go the gaming nights?
strikes me as a bit melodramatic. To echo a version of Jackinthegreen's questions above, what's his expectations with the Wizard character? The examples I used above (Web and Malconvoker) explicitly play to the Wizard's strengths. And, as you'd expect, their ability to contribute (read: turn the universe into their plaything) comes online early and effectively. It may be that he's trying to pound a round peg into a square hole.
And, how widespread is this sentiment at your gaming table? We've seen a lot of "how do we tweak this mechanic to make this class fun?" threads in our days. Too many. But, as SorO noted above, Wizard is universally seen as one of the toughest classes in the game. So, it's odd to think that it needs some serious bumping up.