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Behold The True Silvered Throne:
Wandering Ritual (Su): At 6th level, a true silvered throne can attempt to coax a nearby spirit into service with a 1-minute-long ritual once per day, gaining that spirit’s spirit ability and adding its list of spells to those he can cast using his spirit magic. The silvered throne can maintain this bond for 1 hour, or until he dismisses the spirit as a free action... He can perform a wandering ritual one additional time per day at 8th level and 14th level. This ability replaces wandering spirit and wandering hex.
Now compare it to said standard abilities:
Wandering Spirit (Su): At 4th level, a shaman can form a temporary bond with a spirit other than the one selected using her spirit class feature. She must make this selection each day when preparing her spells. While this feature is active, she gains the spirit ability granted by the spirit. She also adds the spells granted by that spirit to her list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic. She does not add the hexes from her wandering spirit to her list of hexes that she can choose from with the hex class feature.
Wandering Hex: At 6th level, a shaman can temporarily gain the use of one of the hexes possessed by either one of her spirits. She must make this selection each day when she prepares her spells. For the purposes of this ability, she can select any hex possessed by her spirit or wandering spirit. If she selects it from her wandering spirit, she loses the hex immediately if she bonds with another spirit, although she can then select a different hex to gain using this ability, from either her spirit or her new wandering spirit. At 14th level, a shaman can select two wandering hexes each day instead of one. This ability otherwise functions as the hex class feature.
Now, the Wandering Ritual does offer a little more flexibility, but its cost seems imbalanced for what you get; am I missing something? What does it gain other than a comparatively fleeting amount of flexibility within the span of a single day (especially since the Throne seems to lose Wandering Hex with NO replacement)?
I'm wondering if this is one of those things that's somehow more powerful than it looks because I'm not clear on the rules/limitations for the normal class abilities.
When you compare an archetype to the class you have to look at the archetype as a whole, not just at the specific features. Most of the time archetypes trade out things on a one for one basis and the new abilities are equal to what they lost. But sometimes the abilities may be stronger or weaker than what they replace, but they may weaken some other ability as well. That seems to be the case for this archetype.
They lose wandering hex but gain Ritual Hex as a bonus feat. That gives them the same number of hexes as a standard shaman. Since ritual hex is gained at 1st level instead of 6th this is actually an improvement over the standard shaman. They also gain Scarab of the Second Throne without sacrificing any other class ability.
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What Mysterious Stranger said.
This is one of those archetypes that can't really make 1-for-1, same-level comparisons to the base class. The abilities are a bit jumbled around.
It should be noted that the True Silvered Throne is thematically not a "combat" character. She is all about research, rituals, and pomp. For her, being able to swap between wandering spirits several times a day may be a net benefit to whatever occult thing she is planning to do that day (such as using several spirit spells that aren't on the same spirit's list, wanting to contact another plane with Dark Tapestry, or grab a teamwork feat with Tribe).
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They lose wandering hex but gain Ritual Hex as a bonus feat. That gives them the same number of hexes as a standard shaman. Since ritual hex is gained at 1st level instead of 6th this is actually an improvement over the standard shaman. They also gain Scarab of the Second Throne without sacrificing any other class ability.
Well, the way I see it, the Scarab is effectively a replacement for the Familiar - and Ritual Hex, boy! That'd have been something else! Too bad the PFS version, which I've been playing, doesn't get that (although I suppose Extra Hex as a bonus feat isn't too bad as a replacement, although by that point it may just be a plain downgrade from Wandering Hex??)! It also adds to the appeal of Esoteric Rites.
In any case, it definitely helps to understand that Ritual Hex is the de facto replacement for Wandering Hex, despite the nonlinear writing.