The only issue I have with the lack of Firebolt is that there are only two Fire-based cantrips, to take advantage of the damage increase from Enhanced Bond, available to the Wildfire Druid - Produce Flame and Create Bonfire - and only one of them, Create Bonfire, can be cast from the Wildfire Spirit once that feature comes online.
Produce Flame on its own is fine, it just feels "less good" to me since the Range:Self means that you cannot take advantage of both features with the same spell as we could have with Firebolt. It's not the end of the world, just something I noticed and thought "huh, that's a shame".
The Wildfire Spirit is not exactly tanky. Being able to cast through it is only a boon if it can survive onslaughts against it. So even without Cantrips it's of limited value. Being able to do a cantrip would just make it more of a target so it's advantage to cast them through it is a bit over stated. Something like Produce Flame is still valuable because your splitting up the damage sources more. Even if it's feeling forced. Giving them more reason to split their attention and not just focus on and target the wildfire spirit. You also actually do more damage if you have both you and the Wildfire spirit are both making some kind of attacks. Even if the attack from the wildfire spirit doesn't always seem that big. Which means your often more suited to be cantrip casting with your Druid and then attacking with the wildfire spirit as well.
it's not like a typical familiar that can't really do much except maybe the help action in combat or to cast spells through them. It actually has a more robust action economy of it's own that should be taken advantage of.
The Truth is that Firebolt, or Create Bonfire or Produce flame cast through the spirit wouldn't be taking full advantage of what you've got on the table. So cast from your Druid. Which can have two of those three cantrips anyway. And none of these spells have to come from the Wildfire spirit to get the extra damage. They just have to be cast while it is active. The casting through it ability is a seperate part of the same feature that you gain at 6th level. So if you want the D8. Cast things like produce flame or Create bonfire and it still works. Split up their attention because your hitting them from two sources where one is easier to potentially catch but sturdier and the other is flimsier but can do things like teleport. It's going to make both of you much harder to deal with and decide the proper priorities instead of just making the Wildfire spirit the obvious target until it's dead.
I disagree with a lot of this. The point of using your wildfire spirit to cast your spells is either 1) range or 2) line of sight/avoiding cover. Any time you're having to make an attack through creatures (allies or enemies) that adds cover for your target. So often times you'll be shooting whatever your front-liners are attacking, and they get +2 to their AC from cover and sometimes +5 ac for 3/4 cover. Being able to shoot from your wildfire spirit can avoid that. If your DM allows you to use produce flame from the widlfire spirit, then the range also becomes a big factor. Produce flame is only 30 feet range, incredibly small.
Having DM'd a campaign with a widlfire druid, the wildfire spirit is a fairly big sack of hit points that can fly and is immune to fire damage. It's kind of hard to kill it, and if you do focus on attacking it, its saving the party from a lot of damage. Being able to summon with wild shape makes it very replaceable too.
I disagree with a lot of this. The point of using your wildfire spirit to cast your spells is either 1) range or 2) line of sight/avoiding cover. Any time you're having to make an attack through creatures (allies or enemies) that adds cover for your target. So often times you'll be shooting whatever your front-liners are attacking, and they get +2 to their AC from cover and sometimes +5 ac for 3/4 cover. Being able to shoot from your wildfire spirit can avoid that. If your DM allows you to use produce flame from the widlfire spirit, then the range also becomes a big factor. Produce flame is only 30 feet range, incredibly small.
Having DM'd a campaign with a widlfire druid, the wildfire spirit is a fairly big sack of hit points that can fly and is immune to fire damage. It's kind of hard to kill it, and if you do focus on attacking it, its saving the party from a lot of damage. Being able to summon with wild shape makes it very replaceable too.