With tashas rolling out there seems to be a lot of interest in mixing and matching features now that stat allocation isn’t a problem.

A shifter: wildhunt subrace option is no longer restricted to wisdom and dexterity. With that in mind, a level 2+ barbarian of this option can once per shortrest use a bonus action to shift, gaining temporary hitpoints equal to its level+con mod. This subrace a feature adds that during that shift, the barbarian gains advantage on wisdom checks, and more importantly prevents creatures within 30ft of you from gaining advantage. This recharges on a shortrest. The feature can be stopped my waiting 1 minute until it expires, the player dies, or the player uses another bonus action to voluntarily end this use. This feature can be temporarily bypassed if your barbarian is incapacitated.

so once per shortrest this Level 2+ barbarian can spend a bonus action to gain a moderate amount of temporary hitpoints and is also free to use it’s reckless attack feature almost entirely without negative repercussions.

Yes, you could do that. Having said that, the ability score changes don't matter that much. Remember, the wildhunt shifters also gain proficiency with Survival. That default +2 Wisdom isn't going to go to waste; especially when barbarians have two other Wisdom-related skills (Animal Handling and Perception) available to them.

That said, you could also switch their skill proficiency to something else. If you're going to choose Strength over Wisdom, for example, you could swap Survival with Athletics.

But this kind of glosses over the real issue with shifters as barbarians: they can't rage and shift during the same turn. Longtooth shifters have the worst of this because they have to wait until the third round to attack with their fangs, or else forgo their rage. That delay strips away a lot of the utility. And barbarians don't really care about getting hit that much. Their resistance to damage while raging gives them the staying power to take a lot of hits.

I don’t think it’s an issue at all, especially at low levels. The benefits this particular sub race provides mean not having to use your rage at all. Low level barbarians can’t rage very often, so this gives the player a very potent way to offset that rage use while still improving their defense and offense. Rages can be ended early for many reasons too, so in the event that the barbarian is out of uses this continues to be useful.

theres also that the wildhunt subclass feature works with the reckless attack feature on the turn it’s used, and doesnt require waiting until the following turn to use effectively.

I’d also say being able to reckless attack with impunity may be more advantageous than raging depending on the situation.

the stat allocation does indeed matter as there is much more pull for strength to be the dominant statistic for a barbarian than wisdom. Its the statistic driving the mechanics of almost the entirety of the combat based class.

A barbarian doesn't need to rage every encounter. Chiefly because there are three kinds of encounters: combat, exploration, and social interaction. And even if they did go through more combats per long rest than times they can rage, they don't need to rage every fight. The barbarian's rage is a resource to be managed; just like spell slots.

What this proposal does is give the character another resource to manage. Which is fine, if that's what they want. There's nothing wrong with a defensively-minded barbarian; which is what your proposal is. There's a good reason why Way of the Totem Warrior (Bear) is so popular. Just be aware that rage and shifting compete for the same action, so it takes two turns to get both going and realize the maximum potential. It's also Eberron-exclusive; unless a DM decides to allow it elsewhere. And it pushes back against the lore, so even if it were strictly legal they may still ask for justification. While theory-crafting might exist in a vacuum, actually playing the game does not.

And I never said Wisdom was to be the dominant statistic. Without fiddling with anything, you could easily create a wildhunt shifter barbarian with a spread of 15 14 14 8 12 12; using just the standard array. Statistics, honestly, aren't that important. The system is incredibly forgiving, and the soft limit of 20 means nothing gets too high. Not like the 50+ Strength characters I could make in 3.5 and Pathfinder. Or the characters with 30+ to their Stealth by level 10.

I guess it is a valid point that a dm may not like a players choices and will attempt to restrict them.

I reckon the narrative could be something along the lines of “alright well I’ll pick this race but we can pretend it’s w/e fits in your game world”. It is a game after all.

I never pursued this very far because of the 2 rounds to reach full effectiveness, but you're absolutely right that shifting is quite good for non-rage encounter. If you're playing in a game that has several combat encounters a day this would be a potent combo.

I said this a while back, that shifting can be a between-rage option to expand the uses of your buffs. I'm in a campaign as a Shifter Wildhunt Beast Barbarian. I've started using it for the big battles instead of going with this strategy. Big battle last longer, and I still find I get good use out of it.

Incidentally, I play tested the Tail feature of the Beast Barb utilizing the Wildhunt and carrying a shield. Being able to attack with advantage without giving disadvantage, and carry a shield, and add (average) 4.5 to your AC to one attack per turn - is VERY tanky. Way more tanky than a sword and board fighter, and way more damage output as well.