Use your DoT spells, take advantage of your teleport spells, use your thorns on your party members. You can play the role of a cleric, wizard, magician, necromancer or ranger depending on the situation. You are a welcome addition to any party because you can fill so many roles. The race most fit to be a druid would be the wood elves with halflings coming in a close second. You really can't lose with either of these choices.
Misty thicket is also quite a bit less confusing.
The only saving grace of greater faydark is the fact that Crushbone is only a short distance from the wood elf village. Crushbone is an excellent dungeon for young druids as all of the magical items found there with the exception of the dwarven ringmail are great druid items. What it all boils down to is that druids are a fine class. They can do a little bit of everything which will keep them from becoming boring. They can fill in as a tank at lower levels when their fighting skills are not too far behind those of a meelee classes and can fill in several different caster roles at the higher levels.