I made an account for exactly this complaint. I find myself not wanting to use cantrips because of the elemental surface effects. Ray of frost and firebolt are supposed to be reliable single target damage attacks. A way for casters to be able to contribute to the fight without expending a spell slot every turn. Now, they function more as elemental combo starters, and the persistent damage firebolt does makes it better than some level 1 spells.
I'd be fine with fireball lighting the ground on fire. I'm cool with having grease be flammable. I don't like having to continuously res someone because they fell unconscious from a firebolt, and the ground is still on fire, causing them to take additional damage every time they get up.
The encounters I've played where I wasn't constantly dealing with annoying surface effects were really fun. There's a great combat system, it's just held back by frustrating design decisions.
