Inspired by looking at spells for an arcane caster at 1st.
Supercharge Weapon especially, but Shifting Surge as well- both give an extra 1d6 on a weapon's next strike within a minute. Touch range, so it's mostly yourself. That's 1d6 damage on a hit, when a cantrip does 2d6 on a hit, or gives a save vs. 2d4 (often against two targets). The scaling is 1d6 for every +2 ranks, which is worse scaling than the cantrips.
So, they're clearly not intended for use in combat. Cast Supercharge Weapon and Shifting Surge on a weapon, and that's 2d6 extra damage if the first shot hits, plus maybe a weakness. But as good as the action economy is, it may not be very clear to players that this is an ambush setup spell. And, at low levels, you do kinda need your slots to be doing more. "I contributed 3d6 extra damage during the day" doesn't mean much at first level.
I definitely get not having something as good as Magic Weapon, but that did what these spells do at low levels, and much, much more. It feels like casters need something in their first level slots that out-does cantrips, even if just to tied them over until later levels. (Hydraulic Push, Force Barrage, etc. are good examples.)
