Even with all the AI issues aside, the bigger problem with the pet still remains: It dies almost instantly, even if you throw gear on it. They just aren’t tanky enough, where summoners had elegant fixes over time to fix this issue, hunters remain to be an issue because they’re trying to continue using the companion system or making it somehow “worthwhile.” (edit: I guess they fixed the pet HP pool but I haven’t brought the char to endgame content yet so I guess I don’t know for sure how it’ll go).
An elegant fix would be to stop using the companion for attacks for anything other than visual effect. The skills themselves could just be installs or magic circles, where the caster source is still the player rather than the companion. They could still require a companion in the slot to use, the skills could look different (or have different effects!) depending on the companion used, almost like sorc cards, but the AI is just too complex I think for them to fix in any other kind of meaningful way.
Hunter is better and I think the kit is fine, but a class which is clunky is never going to be fun–which is why I find what they changed about wugu/falc cooldowns so irritating, on that note. Smoothness of gameplay should be the number 1 priority. When I press a button, a thing should happen. End of story.