I'd like to say, whomever brought up 2nd. You're off in several ways.
Some misc points.
1. My DM is cool != rules discussion. Bragging about the lack of rules allowing you to do cool things means your more versatile as a 2nd edition character is to automatically assume you have a DM giving you whatever the hell you want.
Anyone can wage a counterpoint against you using the same view point. Also, Fighters cannot use as many weapons as they could in 3rd.
It was mostly a comment of an open system (which 2e was, where you had a consensus of rules at the table and discussions between players and gm) in comparison to 3e (which is defined by being locked down unless you have an exception created by feat, spell or item).
Mostly apples and oranges, but it will hamper the fighter if it’s oranges suck in comparison to the spellcaster.
2. Fighters had worse saves in 2nd. they capped their progression out at level 17 (earliest of all the groups) and are pretty much balanced in respect for the other classes. Like the Fighter will have a better save against poison/death, shapechange, and breath which are mostly all equal to Fort. The Wizard has better saves against magical items and spells, which in 3rd is THREE SAVES, not two. So if anyone had better saves in 2nd it would be with Wizard.
I wanted to double check and found this
P/P/D R/S/W P/P BW S
Priest
Lvl 1: 10 14 13 16 15
Lvl 19+: 2 6 5 8 7
Rogue
Lvl 1: 13 14 12 16 15
Lvl 21+: 8 4 7 11 5
Warrior
Lvl 1: 14 16 15 17 17
Lvl 17+: 3 5 4 4 6
Wizard
Lvl 1: 14 11 13 15 12
Lvl 21+: 8 3 5 7 4
we're both right.
warriors both start with the worst saves and end up with some of the best. They have the highest improvements in 2e. Plus they get their improved saves sooner.
as a result, at mid levels on, my argument applies.
3. Magic Item creation is an NPCs job, also 2nd wasn't melee only items and 3rd gave versatile weapon enhancements to mundanes. In the crafting area, Fighters in 2nd is a step backwards.
In 3e Item creation, while possible for other stuff, is usually cheaper, and more cost effective to do scrolls, and wands, then any other item. Heck, the wizard starts with the scribe scroll feat.
While the spellcaster could make other magic items, it’s more cost effective to stay with a prepped spell that will be more likely to have a quick end to a combat scenerio. Or worse a utility situation that overrides anything a nonspellcaster can do.
4. Everyone but the wizard got followers as an automatic obtained ability from leveling, and everyone gained followers just because they wanted to build a house. It's not Fighter only and "Leadership" didn't ruin anything.
Checking my old books, I’ll concede that most classes had a follower choice at mid levels.
But one trick I saw a little too often is a leadership feat taken by a wizard to have another spellcaster.
I’ll consider it moot though.
The only real point that favors Fighters in 2nd over Wizards is something you didn't even mention. XP.
It takes 3mil to hit level 20 as a Fighter vs 3.7mil as a Wizard.
That is correct. Part of the fighters advantage was a quick progression because they could get kills (and therefore xp) easy and had a relatively faster progress