I concede that Horde Breaker is much more interesting. But also disappointing.
I'm not a DnD player, I only read about how weak the Beastmaster is in TT. In BG3 it is one of the strongest subclasses. I don't mind that. But considering what Larian did to the Beastmaster, I don't understand why poor Hunter's choice Horde Breaker has to have such a small radius of effect in BG3. I like the concept of the Ranger and I would like to play wood elf, a fitting race, but looking at the weak Hunter and the annoying animal companions (why is the raven the size of a little plane, or the boar like an elephant?) of the Beastmaster, the class is off the table for me. It can be fun to play weaker chars but I usually achieve this by other means (no gadgets for example), not by having a weak (sub)class per se.
Maybe (just maybe) I would play Hunter Ranger if you could choose two of the Hunter feats and Horde Breaker would get more radius or a different mechanic.
BTW perhaps Larian thinks this way: the weakest subclass and the strongest subclass of all in the end give a balanced result, so the Ranger is fine.
