No, they didn't. They changed a spec that was redundant of another spec and created a completely unique spec. Warlocks went through something similar too with the DoTs becoming almost exclusively the domain of Affliction and turning Demonology into was pure pet-based spec and Destruction became a spec more like MM, even going so far as to give them a different resource than Demo/Aff.
Then you don't really want to play a Hunter.Besides, what if i dont want to play MM or BM?
And you expect them to reduce the cooldown on Counter Shot to 15 seconds like the Survival interrupt is? Not going to happen. Ranged DPS has long interrupt CDs for a reason, hence why usually they are first or last in a raid group's interrupt rotation so that whenever the rest of the folks of the rotation have used theirs, the interrupt is up again.like the talent could work that way it replaces carve with multishot, bombs with explosive shot, SS stays as is, raptor strike turns into cobra shot etc. i believe it go a long way to make both sides happy without taking away options for people.
So it's not so simple as "Replace X with Y". And you're still ignoring the folks who actually like Survival as it is. I am having fun playing it right now because it is a completely different play style from BM/MM and it actually does completely change fights for Hunters being up close and personal.
You're also forgetting that there are only two other classes (I goofed earlier and only cited one), Druid and Shaman, that can switch between melee and ranged. While it has been downgraded a bit since Wrath, the "Bring the player, not the class" thing still in effect. So if a raid group has too much Melee or too much Ranged, a hunter can switch. And yes, certain mechanics do require a certain number like the Mal'ganis/Kin'tessa fight in Sepulcher. Not enough ranged means the DoT/Fear circles might end up in Melee which can cause major problems because it has to give a certain number of them out based on raid size. Because otherwise you just go in with all melee DPS and Monk/Paladin healers and you'd negate the mechanic.