You can laugh if you want too, but I've always said the next Ranger Elite should be the reverse of the Soulbeast very much along the line being hit with the Mesmer Moa or that PvE mission where you turn into a little Raven. Imagine becoming the animal but a massive wolf, a massive smokescale, or even a massive owl. Take the model that you currently have and double it in size and add the red animation from Strength of the Pack. Anet, you have 5 skills to figure out when in animal form and Soulbeast pet merge already gives you three so there is only slot 4 and 5 on your keyboard to create. Plus, it is not like you have to create them for every single pet, you only need to create them for each family of pets. and you already have most of the work and digital assets done.
Imagine being a bird in WvW where you could fly in any zone you own and scout the enemy zergs. Or better yet, imagine three rangers all in wolf form running with the speed of the warclaw and chasing down enemies who are trying to flee from a flipped keep? Who cares what weapon they give the spec because the trait line should support you when you are in animal form. It still may not be the most meta friendly but the cool factor for running as a bear in a zerg legit makes me smile. Now, that would be truly Untamed! Just my two cents. π