Turtle.
Turtle
and Turtle.
That’s all you need to know. Go forth and tame a turtle.
Bye.
… No seriously… It depends on your style of play.
For pure soloing, extreme soloing, a turtle is actually a pretty good choice, given that they are pretty tough and durable to start with, and their spell shield ability (requires taming a level 30 turtle) makes them even more durable and able to withstand damage. You shouldn’t have any problems soloing elite mobs with a good, deep Beastmastery spec and a turtle, and you’ll laugh at the idea of ‘group quests’.
Downside is they are finnicky about what they eat. Fish, fungus and fruit are their diet. Learning to fish is a pretty good idea.
Bears can also be a decent choice for soloing, and have the advantage of being absolute trash cans who eat anything.
For DPS it will always be a cat, and for end game, going Marksmanship with a cat will make you pretty competitive.
If you’re interested in PvP, and you’re a Night Elf then a cat with the Prowl ability can make for some very interesting and strategic play in Battlegrounds. Shadowmeld yourself and put your cat on Prowl, mine the flag with traps… watch those unsuspecting Horde would-be heroes creeping toward the flag and falling straight into your ambush. Ouch!
Spiders can also be another good PvP choice, though they require a bit of finesse and micromanagement.
How painful is it to level a pet from 35+ lvl when you are level 50?
Pretty painful. Get ready to grind and grind and grind. I just did it myself, taming a L16 turtle at L28. Required a great deal of grinding mobs in Ashenvale and the Wetlands. It’s certainly not hard, just time consuming and quite boring. Good luck.
not sure tbh.