The 1874 RLDS edition changed “a more excellent hope” to “an excellent hope”. This change is not simply the loss of more since the indefinite article was also changed from a to an, in agreement with the following vowel-initial excellent. In any event, a similar phrase is found earlier in Ether 12:11 and there the 1874 RLDS edition did not introduce this change: “but in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way”. In accord with the earlier reading in 𝓟, the 1908 RLDS edition restored the original a more here in verse 32.
Don Brugger suggests (personal communication) that the 1874 change might have been motivated by the prescriptivist rule against modifying an absolute—that is, perhaps the editors for that edition thought there shouldn’t be any comparison for the phrase excellent hope. It should be noted that the phrase “a more excellent way”, found in verse 11, also occurs in 1 Corinthians 12:31, which likewise refers to gifts: “but covet earnestly the best gifts / and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way”. Perhaps familiarity with the King James Bible prevented the 1874 editors (or the typesetter) from changing the phrase “a more excellent way” to “an excellent way” in Ether 12:11.
Summary: Maintain in Ether 12:32 the original phrase “a more excellent hope”, which parallels the phrase “a more excellent way” in Ether 12:11 (which also occurs in 1 Corinthians 12:31).