Willie the Duck
Hero
I think whether you think 2e or 3e had the larger optimized to non-optimized span depends on what you experienced and what you consider outliers to be excluded from the lines of best fit, etc.
- If your 2e experience was group 1 playing with a swashbuckler or savage fighter kit and a PosM from Complete Priests and group 2 playing double-longsword-wielding Myrmidon (or 18/00 strength TWF dart-specialist in a no-magic-requiring-enemies campaign) and Priest of Faerun PosM, you would say that the 2e might have had the bigger span (and if you include spellfire wielders or some of the alternate magic systems from the PO series, well then all bets are off).
- If your 3e experience was group 1 with 1-20 fighters using all their many feats to pick up weapon focus and specialization in both longsword and bow alongside rangers, bards, and maybe a (decadent-feeling) mystic theurge and then group 2 has hulking hurlers and early-entry double-caster PrCs (double-9th level spells by 20th level) and so on, you might consider 3e the more expansive (with pun-pun obviously being the data point which wrecks the analysis).