For almost any spontaneous caster I've ever done, I've gone with Still at 3rd and Silent at 5th (or flipped the order).
I got popped with a silence once and I happened to have Silent Spell. I've made sure to take it almost every time ever since.
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Heighten Spell should be taken at first level.
Extend Spell & Silent Spell are good choices at low level.
At higher levels, Persistent Spell, Empower Spell are to be considered.
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With all selections of abilities in the game, favor ones that get used over and over and over again. Silent Spell and Still Spell are the opposite of that. WIth a good character build, you should use nearly every ability you have every gaming session. This is less true at very high levels, but at level 5, you should pick something with broad utility.
Which is to say I strongly disagree with Dal Selpher. Sure it sucks in that one combat out of ten where you get silenced or you're in manacles or whatever, but it sucks more to have a feat sitting there doing nothing for the other nine encounters.
In my opinion the only Metamagic really worth the feat slots are Empowered and Intensified for a blaster, Persistent for a controller, Extend for minute/level buffs if your GM is willing to let you get nitpicky about time, and Quicken for high-level casters. Those you'll use all the time. You can build around some of the narrower metamagic, sure, but in general, those are the winners.
You might be able to make an argument for taking Intensified Spell at 5th to start getting extra jolty Shocking Grasps, but that's more of a Magus trick. At 6th level Persistent Spell is really useful for Grease and other first level save-or-suck spells (a well placed Persistent Color Spray can be a devastating use of a 3rd level spell slot), and an Empowered Scorching Ray is probably the most damage you can do off of a 4th level spell slot at level 8 (I'm sure that's wrong somehow, but it is a lot of damage). None of that works immediately at 5th level though.
In my opinion Persistent spell is the best of the bunch. I'm a math guy, and the math on Persistent Spell is just great. The average D20 roll drops to about 7, and your target only has a 1/4 chance of getting an 11 or better, 1/16 for a 16 or better, it is much better bang for the buck than Heighten Spell, ESPECIALLY with the Arcane Bloodline bloodline arcana.
If summoning monsters is your bag, Augmented Summoning is a fine 5th level pick.
My DM is loath to create setting-inappropriate magic item shops, and so we wind up with piles of gold with nowhere to go if we're away from a big city. Scribe Scroll is an excellent way to turn extra GP into extra spells per day.
I'm fond of Reach Spell. Nothing beats being able to cast touch spells from a safe distance, and it scales somewhat with level (since you can change the spell level by more than 1 to increase the range further). It's even more useful for Oracles, because access to ranged healing saves a lot of actions, but still quite handy for Sorcerers.
I must admit, I have grown quite fond of Bouncing spell (which, of course, is pretty worthless against solos).
At higher levels, Dazing Spell can become brutally effective if combined with an AoE.
Then again, you might be better off buying meta rods for these if your GM allows them.
Heighten Spell should be taken at first level.
Extend Spell & Silent Spell are good choices at low level.
At higher levels, Persistent Spell, Empower Spell are to be considered.
Why on Earth (or Golarion) would you take Heighten Spell @ 1st level? ESPECIALLY as a Sorcerer?
Seriously, Heighten Spell doesn't come into it's own until you're pitching 4th level spells around, imo.
Really, ANY metamagic feat ought to wait until at least getting 2nd-level spells... and it won't (generally) hurt to wait until you get 3rd level spells.
All that said, I'm a fan of Extend Spell.
For a sorceror:
Still spell is an excellent 'back-up' feat if you are playing intrigue, might be captured, etc. Ditto silent spell. If you are playing some form of stealth caster, it is extremely appropriate.
A better defense against being silenced would probably be to have a dispel magic or dispel silence gee-gaw on hand to activate if you get targeted and fail the save. better yet, don't fail the save.
Many of the other feats can be taken as Rods if you aren't going to be using them frequently...or at least no more then 3/day. Empower Spell is one such effect...damage spells in higher level spell slots are just not that common without specific builds, whereas Persistent Spell applies to any spell that allows a save, and Extend Spell is immensely useful for any spell intended for buffing.
Too, you need to save feats for save DC-increasing feats.
===Aelryinth
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I'm fond of Reach Spell. Nothing beats being able to cast touch spells from a safe distance, and it scales somewhat with level (since you can change the spell level by more than 1 to increase the range further). It's even more useful for Oracles, because access to ranged healing saves a lot of actions, but still quite handy for Sorcerers.
I like Reach Spell for Oracles, but not so much for Sorcerers.
I'd rather take spectral hand as a 2nd level spell known. Then I've got the equivalent of two levels of Reach Spell (Medium range) on all touch spells, without raising their spell level, and without requiring a full round action to cast them. And Spectral hand lasts for minutes per level, and you can extend it with a Lesser Rod of Extend.
For casting classes that don't have access to spectral hand, Reach Spell is great, though.
There are the Sudden metamagic feats from Complete Arcana but i dont know if they PF compatible. They are 1/day but nice for nuking or just to have the options without the increased cast time.
FSM, those feats were broken.
Why on Earth (or Golarion) would you take Heighten Spell @ 1st level? ESPECIALLY as a Sorcerer?
Heighten with Daze turns the party fighter in your best friend, as he will be able to hit mobs without getting hit.
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Heighten with Daze turns the party fighter in your best friend, as he will be able to hit mobs without getting hit.
Why on Earth (or Golarion) would you take Heighten Spell @ 1st level? ESPECIALLY as a Sorcerer?
Really? Blowing a feat, blowing one of your few level 1 spells/day, and changing it - a close range spell - into a full-round action to get +1 on the save DC of Daze? That's so inferior to Spell Focus that it hurts. That's so inferior to any reasonable plan of action it hurts. If you want your fighter to be able to attack without getting hit, you should be using your level 1 spell slots on GOOD control spells, not horrible ones metamagicked to be arguably more horible.
I think it depends on your play style. Our kitsune sorceress likes to use enchantments and illusions so being able to hide out of sight as she silently works her magic is very useful. Couple silent spell with liberating command and you might just be able to get out of the 'bound and gagged' scenario without still spell.
That would take a very generous GM. Liberating Command can not be used on yourself (functionally). It is an immediate action to cast and an immediate action to attempt an escape. You can't do two immediate actions in one turn.