Yeah, druids don't get a lot of love here, but IMO it's mostly unjustified and anyway not as bad since the post-Velious changes (new buffs, heals, and debuffs). That attitude can make it hard to find a group while leveling, because it's true they're never going to be one of the "must have" classes. But druids aren't THAT low on the list of desired classes and they have good soloing options.
I think the problem comes from comparing druids with the other wis casters and expecting them to fill the same roles. Druids can't compete with the healing efficiency of complete heal or the ridiculous utility of slows, but they bring other things to the table. They're needed as patch healers in raids, they can out-dps rogues with a charmed pet, their damage shields and nukes are just about as good as a mage's, ports/evacs can help a guild mobilize for a target or save a raid from a wipe, PoTG is one of the best buffs in the game, etc. There are classes that can do some of those things, but none that can do all of them.
TL;DR I think the answers are no and no, if you like a kind of generalist class with a lot of (sometimes not obvious or glamorous) utility.
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