That's one of the things I just don't get either -- especially since even on a so-called dead-level the character still gets more hit points and generally a slightly better chance to hit and save. Back in the OD&D/AD&D days you could go several levels without any change beyond a few more hit points. The game was still fun to play. I don't remember anyone complaining about "dead levels."
Exactly. The whole concept is a new one, begat with the idea that a new level meant a new shiny to play with. As VBWyrde mentions, probably a computer game response to make things 'better'.
The other thing I really don't get about modern play is "niche protection." Huh? Back when I played every weekend with 12+ players present we depended on character personality to tell the five fighters apart, not game mechanics. Nanok the Swordsman was quite different from Black Bart the Swordsman even though their game mechanics fiddly bits were identical. I can remember any player ever complaining about how four other players with fighter characters prevented his character from being special.
Absolutely. There were only five of us, and the DM, so it wasn't much of an issue we ever had to consider. As I recall, it was my MU, the fighter, the cleric, the human thief, the halfling thief, and the gnome fighter/illusionist(?). We never had a problem stepping on toes, because we didn't consider ourselves in a 'niche' of any kind. It makes me cringe when someone these days says 'those roles were always in the game', after which I get an irresistable urge to slap them silly.
No, in fact, we never had a 'tank'. No one was worried about being 'sticky'. We didn't set the thief up for 'striking'. We did what was necessary to pull off a win. And sometimes that meant the thief would draw attacks while the cleric started whacking things.
And God Almighty, youngsters, Magic Users could absolutely not take over everyone's duties, even at high levels. There was no way in the Nine Hells that I could blow six second level spell slots on
knock and
spider climb just to... Honestly, I can't think of a good reason at all to do that. Why would I want to open three doors and climb three walls per day better than the thief? And after those six spells were cast, then what? You still had to have the thief doing it manually.
And who came up with the idea of the cleric as Band-Aid dispenser? If we had to fall back on the cleric to heal everyone, it was because we made some major mistakes, and were already on the way out. And that happened more than once. We needed the cleric on the front lines supporting the fighter, or we would have been slaughtered.
Niche protection is crazy talk.