The Bear is not even the best DPS shape. The wolf is better and has more synergy when you use Exposing Bite, which Land druid somehow gets.
And yes, Land druid has to Wild Shape as a full action but you can easily Wild Shape before combat. There is no reason not to choose Land when you still get access to Misty Step and other spells, spell recovery, and everything else.
Land druid should only have access to the cat of the available shapes. They can add other non-combat wild shapes later. But true enough, Larian probably did not want Land players to miss out on the experience of Wild Shape.
Well, that is kind of the point of choosing a subclass. Sigh.
