I used to be a semi Melee Hunter before the last update. I aimed to have high Agility High Might High Vitality High Evade and High Parry. ( Granted High Morale in hindsight is superior to high parry and high evade as it's easier to get for some unknown reason the gear is set so you can get ~ +5% Evade and Parry from your gear max but 3000+ HP) Naturally it leaves you with a low power regen and melee skills aren't free so I'd be in Strength of the Earth quite frequently. As the last update nerfed it to death it killed Melee as you'd have to give up high vitality for high fate which would make you squishier and less useful at melee range due to not being able to take hits as easily.
Since the update my play time went from 3 hours a day to about 10 minutes a day. Drastic Changes to a build make it so that people want to quit and are annoyed. I'd suggest instead of changing the Melee on the hunter at this point and forcing it down peoples throats to allow a break off into 2 Classes. Hunters are already ridiculously popular so a split would not make one or the other obscure most likely. Archer and Hunter. When I choose a hunter I choose it because I like bow's and I liked Legolas and the idea of hunting things. From reading this thread and other posts many people like the Hunter for Being a Nuker and Having a Bow. Make the lines split at 65 for existing characters and for new characters add Archer as another choice. Give the Archer line increased damage over the hunter line and the hunter lines current skills. Give the new hunter line more melee damage more tracking and trapping and more melee skills with less ranged damage than the archer and higher Evade and Parry.
For Pure DPS the Archer would be superior to the Hunter but the hunter would be more useful and slightly more survivable.
Bowmaster: My main goal is to remove the strong tie to Strength Stance. This does not mean nerfs, only that the buffs Bowmaster bestows onto S:S will apply regardless of stance. This change indicates a general shift in the stance design on the class. All stance altering traits and set bonuses will be repurposed and their buffs will be redistributed. My intention is to allow Hunters of all traitlines the ability to change stance based on circumstances. As part of this, I'll be changing the stances around to ensure each of them is better at what they do well. Besides that the Bowmaster will be very close to what it is now.
Might having to stance hop make things a bit button mashy and might it also overpower precision ? Strength Stance is currently +10% Damage + 15% Power Cost . Precision is -1300 BE + Lower Miss Chance . If both get the +7% damage and +7% Power might Strength become useless except for the slow and pulling agro?
Huntsman: While I knew that bringing up melee would pique peoples curiosity, I admit to being taken aback by how much negativity it generated. Legolas quickly dispatching enemies at range and in melee is the archtype the class was built on and one that many still identify with. A monthly update was not enough time to make the kind that would bring the Huntsman up to a Legolas standard, but an expansion is. Before I say anymore, yes, I understand that Hunters do not use melee much. I believe that this is more because that there is little reason or benefit, not because it isn't exciting to switch between melee and ranged combat during a fight. However, it seems I did my job too well in the last update, many are rather fond of the state the Huntsman is in and do not want it changed. Such feedback has effected me, and I'm backing off from making the Huntsman a melee/ranged hybrid. Instead, minor edits like Bowmaster will be made, mainly removing traits that effect specific stances.
That said, here are some details for what I was planning for the line: All melee skills grant focus, ranged skills increase melee damage while melee skills increase ranged damage (with applications/removals to encourage switching between ranged and melee at some kind of tempo - 10 seconds ranged buffed, 10 seconds melee buffed), extending Fleetness to buff melee, make quickshot usable while moving (ie: no induction). Basically, allow the class to fluidly swap between melee and ranged and gain benefits for doing so, while giving it even more mobility and induction-less attacks.
Melee skills giving more focus would be nice. Quickshot while moving would be interesting possibly OP. Swapping from Ranged to Melee would probably become annoying if it's forced due to a large damage bonus.
Trapper of Foes: "But you just made it awesome, don't nerf it!" Don't worry, I'm not changing Trapper to nerf it. When the last update hit, a lot of feedback on the line was focused on the damage reduction still being unappreciated, and penshot still not being what people hoped for. I intend on changing both of those. Further, the realities of endgame are that CC is often negated by boss mechanics, making a class that CC's focus on support through debuffs, buffs or restoration. The trapper will trade some of his straight CC for more generally applicable support abilities. Lastly, I'm going to try to add new trap mechanics in that make the Trapper more about traps!
I haven't run trapper more than a week at a time ever so can't comment