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- The Sorcerer only really starts to shine at level 5+; until then, it is little more than a sub-par Wizard
- The Sorcerer is cruelly denied some of the Wizard's best spells, such as Find Familiar, Flaming Sphere, and Wall of Force
- The Sorcerer lacks versatility, with by far the lowest number of spell known / prepared of any full caster
- The Sorcerer PHB subclasses are uninspiring (Draconic) or downright broken (Wild Magic)
- The Sorcerer is hard to build right. To be effective, the Sorcerer has to pick the right combination of metamagics and spells. The Sorcerer picks up 2 metamagics at level 3 and is stuck with them until level 10; if he picked poorly, the Sorcerer effectively loses its only advantage over Wizard
The Sorcerer only really starts to shine at level 5+; until then, it is little more than a sub-par Wizard
As long as said wizard gets into some melee, then the odds are a bit more in favor of a draconic sorcerer.
The Sorcerer is cruelly denied some of the Wizard's best spells, such as Find Familiar, Flaming Sphere, and Wall of Force
The sorcerer is mercifully denied the "smack Tweety when Brugo the Ogre claps his hands" standard procedure of mine for nosy familars of fearful wizards sent to unknown dungeon corners

Flaming sphere ? To slow for a sorcerer.
Wall of force? You do not need a wall between you and the scorched pile of your enemies which you just burned to a crisp. Fireball upcast to spellevel 5 makes better use of your spellslots.
The Sorcerer PHB subclasses are uninspiring (Draconic) or downright broken (Wild Magic)
Hm. draconic is a power build. Wild magic is a fun build. Yea, maybe, although I think wild mage is a better subclass for sorcerer than like in 2e for wizards, so I think 5e did its job there.
On the builds, yes it is not the easiest class to build I agree with you on that one.
For me the sorcerer or warlock or bard not so much the paladin are those number 5 party members when all other roles are taken. The sorcerer can work as a party wizard but not so good like pally can work as party tank and party healer.