Oh fuck off
Daidre, I'm talking about what you're already doing. The problem is how few other people are.
The heart of any game with staying power (and the sales that go with them) is an evolving meta, where people find something that works then everybody chases that then somebody else finds something else and people relog to try that, buy DLC etc. For that to work you have to have viable alternatives (which is different from nerf-a-mole balense) that solve common problems in different ways. See Diablo II for a common example. The PF ruleset comes readymade to provide that. The only thing standing in the way of that is Owlcat implementation.
Lets look at the Hunter Class, which was used to drive Kickstarter contributions to reach the stretch goal to unlock it. One of the best classes in CotW P:K, but Owlcat's implementation of it in Wrath undermines it's entire raison d'être.
Hunter is a Ranger/Druid hybrid that focuses on making your animal companion the best in the game. It gets medium spell progression which is halfway between Ranger's Slow and Druid's Fast and the key spells from each class that the other is missing: Hurricane Bow/Lead Blades/Aspects from Ranger, Faerie Fire/Snowball from Druid for starters. Martial Prof from Ranger (so you get the Ranged Weapon Druid lacks), full pet from Druid. So far so good. But lets look at the specific abilities the class gets to make that companion something you'd want to play the class to get:
Lvl 1: Animal Focus: mostly fine. Making Focus Enhancement/Competence means it doesn't stack with the common buffs/items, but then it frees those up and is always on. Underrated ability (scales with class lvl which people are slowly figuring out is important) that Hunter trades away on some appealing archetypes anyway.
Lvl2: Precise Companion: for starters the whole point of this is to give your companion an ability, which Wrath doesn't. Major Fail, since the point of the class is to enhance the Companion. In the PF ruleset (and the CotW implementation) the Companion gets either Precise Shot or Outflank (along with the character), so lets look at each case and how Owlcat falls short:
Ranged Hunter: what is the point of giving the Companion Precise Shot? It's the main motivation to play Hunter in PF and CotW P:K and completely missing from Wrath. Not a bug, just missing. See lvl 3
Melee Hunter: Outflank (on both character and companion) is essential to make melee Hunter viable since Hunter is 3/4 BAB and unlike Ranger doesn't get any abilities to enhance it's AB (no Combat Style, Favorite Enemy, or Quarry). Getting Outflank at lvl 2 (on both Hunter and Companion, to turn it on since it's a TW Feat) is the only thing keeping Hunter from just whiffing throughout the hardest five levels of the game (2-6, since Companion can pick up Outflank at lvl 7). Omitting this ability leaves Hunter combat effectiveness on par with Druid, defeating the purpose of the class which was to trade fast spell progression to improve combat performance on both character and companion. Some Hunter archetypes share it via Hunter's Tactics at lvl 3 anyway, but some of the most appealing trade away Hunter's Tactics for other abilities so get completely hosed.
Lvl 3: Hunter's Tactics: as many players experienced on Sacred Huntmaster in P:K, sharing TW Feats with your companion is a powerful ability. The problem is that both vanilla P:K and Wrath lack Ranged Teamwork Feats altogether, which are the main tool that 3/4 classes like Inquisitor and Hunter have on Ranged builds to make up for not getting Flanking bonuses or Crusader's edge. The whole point of Precise Companion in PnP/CotW (which have Ranged TW Feats) is that it gives the Hunter's Companion Precise Shot which is a prereq for the Teamwork Feat Enfilading Shot and requires Ranger for instance to burn two (useless) Feats on their Companion to unlock it. But Wrath doesn't have Ranged TW Feats at all making Ranged Hunter a needlessly uphill battle, rightfully unappealing and thus "niche," which they evidently then use as a rationale to never meaningfully deliver that promised stretch goal.
