To be fair, this is an "issue" for a lot of classes. At least Hunters can play all PVE content as BM and do both crazy AOE and single target damage with the same gear set and talents. Other classes need to play different specs with multiple different gear sets just for PVE content. Personally I think melee survival is fun, but I do agree it should go back to ranged because of the expectations people have to the hunter class as you mention.