Heyllo
We all encountered the situation where you wanted a specific pet, you wanted to tame it and ERROR: Exotic pet is only for Beast Mastery !
Making you hate playing your Survival or Marksmanship hunter
Exotic pet existed since WOLTK, a time where specialisation was just a way in a talent tree.
back in WOTLK reaching that beast mastery talent point of getting a exotic pet was the way to say “I am a beast master and not something else” and be one with the gameplay of the pet. Getting exotic pet allowed to tame additional pet and get more point for training them
It is also in WOTLK where pet also get their own talent tree depending of their familly ( cat get ferocity talent tree, owl get cunning talent tree etc…)
In that pet talent tree, you could find talent that increase damage of your pet but also utility like Roar of Sacrifice, roar of recovery ( give mana back to player)…
Having the ability to get exotic pet allowed you not only more damage but also utility
In Mist of Pandaria, Pet is able to choose what specialisation you want, since in Mist of Pandaria player talent has been reworked, so is the pet : There’s less difference between pets familly and “dps loss” due to the talent choice
And Exotic pet is now just a additionnal spell and no longer give extra damage compared to a normal pet
In Warlord of Draenor , Non exotic pet is able to now bloodlust ( was only exotic pet before)
Exotic pet make their difference by their appearance and spell ( some exotic pet have AoE damage spell ! wich make a difference compared to normal pet that attack in single target)
Exotic pet don’t have more avantage compared to a normal pet when it come to pet raid buff
In Legion, a new type of pet is added : Mechanical
There’s no longer just a story of beast and exotic beast, but also mechanical
All races and all hunter spec are able to get a mechanical pets
it mean it is the first time hunter can choose the type of the pet to avoid hibernation from druid etc … wich give a additional avantage over normal beast
This is a step where a additional avantage is not only given to Beast mastery hunter with exotic pet but to all hunter specialisation.
In Battle For Azeroth, Blood beast is added, teamable for all hunter and races as long you have the items to learn how to tame them, Blood beast have a slow spell but compared to normal beast like wolf blood beast is able to slow ennemies at 10 yards range instead of melee range ( 5 yards ).
Some pets like moth could get a battle ressurection back in BFA.
In Shadowland, a new type of pet is avaiable : Undead beast
It is a additional type of pet all hunter have access, but it also add exotic undead.
If it’s a raptor non exotic it is like any raptor
if it’s a Tyrannosaur undead ( exotic) it gain the ability feast that eat a corpse and generate focus and health over 6 seconds
The rest is mostly cosmetic pet added
If history show something, it show that overtime normal beast become less powered and other other pets got avantage like mecanical and undead beast. Some got extra power like prowl or some not able being scared beast
Exotic pet reserved to beast mastery only feel outdated
Many exotic pet have AoE damage wich is great in M+ , why Survival hunter and Marksmanship can benefit of it ? Markmanship can get lone wolf to adapt better in aoe but lose it when group ask him to blood lust. We know also survival is dependant of a pet, Survival having option to get a Exotic pet will help survival being taken in mythic +
What do you think of it ?
My opinion is by looking on history, there is now no reason to keep exotic beast away from Survival and Marksmanship