Pet family for solo questing

[brghteyes28]

Can someone provide some good options for pet families for solo questing? It's my first time with a hunter, I've been out of the game for over 3 years, and I feel like a complete newb again.

[Carnacki]

Most pets are normalized now, so they don't have useful abilities. That being said, you're going to want a tank pet, like a turtle or crab which have defensive cooldowns that keep them alive. You'll do fine with either of those to 100. However, you don't really -need- either of those, so it really comes down to using whichever pet you like and speccing it for Tenacity.

[Karathyriel]

I have to admit, I haven't played much in the last couple of weeks.

The pet family, as far as I know, doesn't matter any more.
Just like you choose Survival, Marksman or Beastmaster for your hunter, you now also choose if your pet is tenacity, ferocity or cunning.
You don't need to have a bear, crab or turtle to have a tenacity pet.
More or less, the decision which pet you have by your side is just a matter of taste.

In fact, sinice the Legion pre-patch, the choice you make is made for the hunter.
You can't have a tenacity and a ferocity pet with you.
No matter which of your pets you spawn, it will have the same specialization that you chose on the last pet.

[Teigan]

Yep, pet choice is pretty cosmetic, with very few exceptions. So you don't need a traditional tenacity pet. Any pet that you spec as tenacity will have tenacity abilities.
Now, a few pets kept abilities, but most are not terribly important. The only consideration, since you want a soloing pet, would be ones that kept some form of shell shield. A pet that kept a damage reducing ability like shell shield or other things that are shell shield but called something else would be the most useful for heavy duty tanking. Crabs, beetles and turtles come to mind. In that situation it would actually make a difference.
Exotic pets still have some variety and some interesting abilities, but that's another story.

[brghteyes28]

Thank you everyone!

[Snope]

Also keep in mind that Core Hounds (and possibly Nether Ways too) can Bloodlust. That can be especially useful for soloing old raid bosses that need to die quickly (like Ultraxion and Hagara the Stormbinder.) ...Or unusually strong quest enemies, I guess.