Speaking of... a Druid with less spellcasting and more wildshaping

[Ionathus]

You're thinking of the Bard casting polymorph on the Fighter who is down to 5 HP and it's WAY more useful to PM him HP than to actually heal him. The Bard then goes and hides in a corner, Dodging every turn while the Fighter goes to town.

See, the Druid using PM on themselves and wading into traffic is a single bad Concentration check away from being in Caster form surrounded by REALLY angry dudes... that is a combo for roast Druid on a stick, not the "I Pwn the World" you seem to think it is.

I agree with your perspective though I think what MagneticKitty was getting at is that this whole thread has pretty much left the realm of "help me understand actual 5e druid" and entering the realm of "help me design a homebrew rework for the 5e druid."

That doesn't take away from your excellent point that, if a 4th level spell is better than your core class feature in many (though not all, tbf) ways, that's a pretty annoying for people who enjoy that core class feature.