The basic inflict spells are kinda sub-par. Xd8 + CL is pretty low at any level except the one you get the spell on. Even then most sources of damage tends to out-pace them in even the upper-end of low-op.
I say this as someone who plays pretty close to the level of power the designers balanced around. (hint: that's a much lower level of power than most of the people around here discuss.)