Although the current SV hunter spec is the only spec in the game I have slight fun playing with, I still find it really straight forward and, as with all other classes, get tired of it pretty quickly.
For me, classes being fun to play is the most important thing in WoW, as it will make me want to play through content. It is also what I think makes me not play the game so much these days.
That said, here are a couple of ideas I had for a SV hunter in an hypothetical world. I know the changes are massive and, to some point, unrealistic, but I had a lot of fun thinking about them so bear with me if you like.
First of all I think the spec’s fantasy is all wrong. It is ok for it to be melee and all, but imo should rely much more on traps and poisons, as a SV hunter would.
I also think it should be a constant mix between melee and range.
Traps like caltrops and tar traps could have an interaction with an explosive trap, making the first do burst AoE damage and the second be set on fire and doing AoE DoT.
I imagined some sort of sticky traps that you would stick to your opponent (in melee range) and would then disengage back to detonate them with some sort of explosive arrow (with minimum range requirement), to do its full effect. Examples:
Immolation sticky trap - deals fire DoT. when detonated deals damage equal to the total DoT damage. This would make you want to go in range at the final ticks of the DoT for full damage. Also, if you have alot of haste, your DoT would tick more and the whole trap would deal more damage.
Ice sticky trap - slows the target. When detonated, shatters the enemy’s armor, exposing it and increasing the physical damage you deal to the target by ?%.
Only one sticky trap per target. Detonator would have no CD. You would Disengage and detonate all your sticky traps. Harpoon would have its CD reduced by 3s for each sticky trap detonated.
Other fun things could be done while you were ranged. A very simple Dota-inspired spell would be some sort of Wild Axes. You would throw your weapon forward in a straight line for up to ?yds or until it finds a target. It deals more damage the more distance it traveled. The weapon then sticks near the target for 10 seconds. If the player catches it, the CD is reduced (again with the interaction of going in and out). A talent could make it come back to you (boomerang like) but in a straight line as well (you would need to catch it for the CD reduction). You could have your pet fetch it for you also. Talent modifiers could make this ability more relevant in melee range.
Whenever you used Mongoose strike, the CD on your disengage would be reduced by 3s, for you to swiftly jump back away.
Kill command should be redesigned to have more interactions with these changes. A talent row could be used to make it interact more with melee or ranged abilities, as you would path your way to the talent “tree” to focus your play style more around melee or range. In the end you would always need to do both things.
You could have a talent called “Sticky trap launcher” which would make your next sticky trap castable in range, making you stay in your preferred range state longer.
Serpent sting could also have talent modifiers to make it more interesting. Like the current Latent Poison Azerite Power. Imagine this: serpent sting only usable on one target at a time with latent poison. Your talents would be ranged focused, making you stay afar longer and letting the poison set for a while. When you went back in you would do high damage with your next Mongoose strike. It would make you want to go melee for a while, do some burst damage, plant your sticky traps and come back out.
There would be more interactions with your pet. It could make up for the fact that you were range sometimes (no white damage). It could disengage with you just to pounce back in for extra damage.