First, sorry for my english if you find a typo, is not my main language.
Second, back in the early days of this game when it came out to steam, i choose the archer class and then i leveled up him into a hunter/falconer because i wanted to play as a kind of beastmaster class but i remember that the AI of the pet was very very very bad and the scale of the stat of the pet was very poorly.
Those flaws of the hunter still are a thing?
some bugs still are there but it has improved a lot, im playing hunter/falconer since the game was launch, the stats now are based on player stats and get a bonus from pet att which can be increased by equipment and gems
I’m also playing since the game launched, the AI is the same.
There have been no improvements to the AI if that’s what you want to hear, the pet still breaks quite easy, has trouble catching enemies, coursing does trigger but doesn’t make the pet chase an enemy.
There are a lot of issues that can be worked around, /comeon can make the pet beging chasing the enemies when coursing doesn’t do that, you can also feed the pet to fix the broken state.
It has decent damage, but it also cannot damage bosses with most of the skills (only rush dog and snatching work on bosses), elite monsters often are immune to skills too.
Hunter is great when you’re going solo, but in party play it certainly is not needed, is nice, not needed.
Hawk’s AI is not that different, but it is way better compared to hunter’s AI.
It certainly is fun to play, but, it also is not for everyone.
Problem with Hunter was braindead AI of pet and it’s still there. 
I never have spent a point in coursing XD forme the best skill are retrieve snatching rush dog and growling