Croesus
Adventurer
So. Druids. At the very base, they're defined by a few things.
* Shapeshifting.
* Animal hoards (druids make the best summoners in 5e imho)
* Terrain control spells (entangle is the classic example, but there are many others)
* Some healing
The middle two items you list are almost always concentration, which severely limits the druid's options in combat. More than once I cast entangle, spike growth, or a conjure spell, then each round said, "Well, I guess I'll try to hit someone with my shillelagh." I found that very boring.
Now... wild shape in 5e makes me sad. For me, I envision shifting to play a werewolf, or something. I had a blast with my drow spider shifter in 4e. Instead, I have to encounter animals, then turn into them. Usually a bear, elephant or a dinosaur after a point, then elementals. I don't want to use those. I want to be a tiger, or a snake or something consistant across all levels. Instead, I outgrow those early on, and have to stick with just tanky beasts, since those are the only ones that can stand up to the physical challenges. This isn't fun, imho. Its not as evocative after a while. Maybe this is a problem of just not enough Beasts that are properly leveled, or needing rules to level up the CR of a beast, but when a tiger is being so outclassed so early on...
Agree 100%. What I'd prefer is that all druids could at some point wildshape or summon small animals for scouting and such. Combat wildshape would be limited to a specific circle, and would not be based on specific beasts. Instead the druid would gain certain abilities (melee attack, flight, dash, whatever). The specific beast form would just be flavor chosen by the player. This would have to be carefully designed to minimize unnecessary complexity and would need plenty of testing to balance. But done right, it would solve a lot of current problems with wildshape.
In short? More variety in Circles. Lots more variety. Clerics and Wizards always get new subclasses. I feel like every class should have at least 5 subclasses.
DM's Guild has at least three good alternate Circles (Beast, Death Blossom, Fountain), and I've found a couple others elsewhere. UA just had a new one posted that looks pretty good.