If that were true then sorcerer wouldn't need to steal 90%+ of its spell list before adding extras and would set off on its own path. It's a situation like if barbarian got heavy armor second wind action surge rage a third attack at 11 and justified it by only having most of the battle master maneuvers. There's a point where the term embarrassment of riches is reached, sorcerer as designed currently targets it
It isn't stealing the spell list? The list is the Arcane Spell List. Anyone can grab from it. Sorcerers, artificers, bards, wizards and warlocks (along with certain other random sub-classes) all grab from the same list but I don't see you saying they're stealing from it. Its a universal list for classes to draw from, its not the wizard's sole domain
The wizard's thing isn't "Spell list access" so, no, its nothing like getting all of the Fighter's features. But, you've put down exactly why people were so pissed off when they did that one wizard sub-class that just, got metamagic.
No. I rejected it, there is a difference. Wotc overdid it giving stuff from another class's core strength and after doing so didn't leave enough room in the power budget for sorcerer to stand on its own merits.
If the 'core strength' of a class is 'Accesses more of a list shared between 5 other classes" and nothing else, then that class needs to be redesigned to actually have a relelvant core strength. Its that simple.
The problem is the wizard, not the sorcerer.
ahem... It's more complicated that & you seem to be fighting for stagnant continuation of a wizard subclass as a full class with subclasses of its own. In quite a few of my posts I've mentioned how the sorcerer needs to carve a path of its own & stop relying on being "wizard but hot" in order to find room in the power budget for building it's own strengths without needing to steal the bulk of the wizard's strengths to do it. You can't have both a class charting its own course and stagnant devotion to the original poor design choices.
If wotc's not willing to do that so sorcerer can stand on its own merits rather than "wizard but hot", well it can be a wizard subclass like every other wizard but x wizard subclass or should just be ejected on the grounds of failing to define itself.
The sorcerer has a path of its own. "I have X going on so magic is my birthright and I can control magic on a degree other classes can't". It isn't wizard but hot. Wizard is "Book nerd who has to study" and none of that is in place with the sorcerer's stuff. You don't need a spellbook, you're not studying spells. Where's the wizard but hot in the mechanics? Is it just because you have access to spells? Bard has access to spells, why aren't you levying the same claims at it if that's all it takes for two classes to allegedly be the same? It doesn't even use the wizard's strengths of arcane recovery which, is the wizard's real only strength it has! That's how piss-poor the wizard is made.
The sorcerer defines itself absolutely fine and doesn't share ANY mechanic with the wizard. Why should they be merged? GIve me a reason that isn't just you saying "oh they're the same". Actually dive into 'em.
Either way like, sorcerer's not great but its not like early Ranger or anything like that, which is absolutely a class that couldn't stand on its own merits and why we got two whole redesign attempts there.