Resurrection has to exist for reviving long dead people then; the only problem is it caps at a century. I guess you have the niche reward of growing back body parts and and dispelling mundane diseases, but it doesn’t solve magical problems.

4th level slots that temporarily deal with a problem are numerous, and while Resilient Sphere is probably worse in that case than Banishment and Polymorph, Resilient Sphere comes with the flexibility of being an odd protection piece and a hilarious image.

Secret Chest doesn’t really solve any problems needing to be solved. You can stash away some important secrets I guess, but you know what also can do that? A box, a shovel, and some dirt. The fact that the box will eventually be destroyed as well makes the spell lack a lot of cool world building options.

As written, this is a bottom of the barrel damage spell you probably shouldn’t take on characters beyond those craving the power to shoot sickening bolts at people.

Power Word: Heal is doing something a lot of other spells do, and yes, is doing it a bit better than them all, but is majorly party dependent, and probably isn’t worth your slot.

Characters that are looking for a tool dedicated to manipulation will love this spell, but most any character can pick it up and find uses for it. Illusion magic has near endless utility gated only by your creativity and your DMs willingness to put up with it.

Maximizing the effectiveness of Hunger of Hadar comes down to keeping creatures in the area. Blinded creatures suffer from having all attacks made against them happen with advantage, and all attacks they make come with disadvantage.

Hex gives a tool to a suite of archetypes that otherwise would feel terrible without it a means of staying competitive and useful in combat without clearly outshining any other character.

As far as 1st level spells go, Hail of Thorns is offering a decent chunk of damage attached to a short or longbow hit. Large quantities of small enemies aren’t typically something martial characters are that great at managing. Hail of Thorns is a narrow, but cheap, answer to some of those encounters.

Grasping Vine is caught in this awkward area alongside being compared against some lower level options that seem like a far better rate for the effect you’re getting, ultimately leaving me grasping at straws for reasons to take Grasping Vine.

Friends is at its best in games where bar fights and conflict are the norm and often done just for fun. At the disposal of a bard who loves to sow chaos in a group who embraces it, Friends offers an easy way to expedite exposition while eliciting excitement in the form of coming to blows with whomever you charmed.

All in all Feign Death is fine. It's a neat ritual to pull out when you’ve got an incredibly stupid idea, just costs you preparnig it, and has some odd cases you’ll want to keep in mind should disease be a major threat.

Practical uses primarily exist in the exploration pillar of play, but the concentration prerequisite weighs down its actual utility tremendously. One or two unforeseen encounters can waste the slot by just breaking concentration. Whatever weather was a concern before can manifest again.

The actual cases where Seeming excels over lower level spells are rare. Spells that include the words “any number of creatures” and have durations without concentration of up to eight hours should be powerful, but in this rare case, the whole is worse than the sum of its parts.

As a concept for world building and as a tool in the hands of a villain hiding a powerful weapon or storing an ancient evil, I love Sequester. It isn’t ever a spell I think a player should consider taking, and ultimately is a waste of time for players to read in nearly all cases. It shouldn’t be a player option like this; Sequester is a DM tool, and should be treated as such.

For a 9th level spell, Shapechange delivers even with all the caveats holding it back. It can open up the game to new directions of play, offers ludicrous power at the majority of tables it's cast at, and holds up well against some of the strongest other spells in the book.

This is another one of those spells where it may not read particularly strong, but in practice with a creative mind and a diversity of environments, it can stand out as an amazing tool to have access to.

If you know you’re going against multiple forces where you can confidently say you can maintain concentration over the full hour for more than one encounter AND have it matter each encounter, it's great. Otherwise just take one of the known busted 4th level options.

Storm of Vengeance does a lot of little things, and no big ones. For a 9th level spell, if you really want it to be worth the slot, you have to get to and want Round 3s effect and round 5-10s effects all while maintaining concentration on the spell.