Quote Originally Posted by King of Nowhere View Post
take also into account that a high level fighter is using magical equipment to do superhuman stuff. his belt make him over twice as strong, his bracelets make him much harder, all that kind of stuff. what can be done by a high level martial without any equipment is quite underwhelming, short of high op
Therein certainly lies a disconnect. Fighters and the like never were truly mundane, as even before the WBL days of 3e, a bit part of a fighter's power level was that most of the magic item treasure table was geared towards them (and, particularly with intelligent swords with X/day spell powers, often made them 'spellcasters through another avenue').