Honestly I have to say I prefer these ones. The 5th edition cantrips are intensely boring to me and at least these ones do something additional to make them a bit more interesting.
They're not supposed to be mechanically complex/interesting. They exist to allow casters to have a "basic attack" that scales with them, similar to how fighters will get weapons with +2d6 fire damage. Casters already get hundreds of interesting and complex spells that allow them to alter the terrain and create crazy effects on the battlefield (at least in 5e). They don't need to also do it on every single spell they cast.
