basically what the title says. hunters were designed as the ranged class and not a melee class. i mained this character as survival all the way from Wrath through to the Legion Prepatch and it sucks that i can’t play the character anymore because blizzard decided that “all 3 hunter specs were too similar, being ranged with a pet.” and yet i don’t see warlocks getting a melee spec but they are “ranged with a pet” as well.
with the introduction of the Lone Wolf talent it made the specs feel different, MM was ranged dps without a pet that focused on heavier hitting abilities, survival was ranged dot dps with a pet, and BM was ranged pet-based dps (remind you of any class? destruction locks are ranged dps that focused on heavier hitting abilities that used to always use sacrifice tomb, affliction is a ranged dot dps with a pet, and demonology is a ranged pet-based dps spec).
i’m not saying absolutely no one likes the melee survival spec, but honestly speaking i haven’t seen very many outside of low levels. think maybe i’ve seen like 12 total at max level during both Legion and BfA. with Shadowlands supposedly bringing a more “class focused” it’d be great if we could get a return to ranged survival since it’s attached to a ranged class (imagine if they turned outlaw rogue into a gunslinger ranged spec instead of a pirate, but kept it attached to the rogue class). while survival may do good damage as melee, people still gravitate towards the ranged specs of the class since they tend to do comparable dps with less work and at the comfort of range.
I’m not sure about never, but I can’t see it happening any time soon. The same applies to the other styles they chose in Legion (eg. DW Frost, TG Fury).
i have been playing other classes, since Legion i have played several other classes and the other 2 hunter specs on a normal/heroic raid level and none of them have had the same appeal to me as the ranged survival spec
but i love all these hunters who aren’t even survival spec that just come out of nowhere to defend it