Survival's Three Choices

[Sonam]

So currently, there are three optimal pets for Survival Hunters: Riverbeasts, Scorpids, and Carrion Birds. The reasoning is that each of these families features a 6 sec cd Mortal Strike that also causes Hunting Companion procs, meaning actual dps increase. Due to Tenacity also getting an additional skill (Thunderstomp) this means that these three (in Tenacity) are the best possible choices for Survy at the moment.

How do you think this will be fixed, if it will? Further pruning of pet abilities isn't fun, but neither is being pigeonholed into three fams in order to do the most possible dps. I just wish there were more pets with the MS ability!

Unrelated side note, the Flamewing Skytalon (Rylak) is still tameable by Survival.

[Rhyela]

I think it's pretty lame, but then again I'm not into min-maxing, nor am I raiding, so it's not really a big deal for me at the moment. However, for those of us who do raid and what-not, it would be nice to have this fixed. I'm also against taking more abilities away from pets, but perhaps the mastery could be re-worked to make it so that having one of three pets isn't optimum.

[Teigan]

I don't understand their thinking on this. That's assuming there was actually thinking.

[Shelassa]

Sadly, the way to fix this issue of being pigeonholed into using certain pets would require them to take a hard critical look at Survival's Mastery (and maybe at BDKs' while they are on it!). Considering how much attention was paid to Hunters' mechanical issues up to now, I won't count on it anytime soon.

[Quiv]

To me, this feels like yet another thing they had to overlook to meet the deadline. Pure speculation, but this kind of stuff doesn't seem to fit the Blizzard polish we've come to expect. It makes so little sense mechanically.

[Shelassa]

It seems that Survival's Mastery got fixed. There are multiple reports on the forums that pets' non-special abilities (Bite, Claw, Smack, etc.) and, possibly, auto-attacks (opinions on this on forums are split, so I am not too sure) have been proccing Mongoose Bite.

[Xota]

Thunderstomp costs almost as much focus as Bite/Claw/Smack, so changing to tenacity might not be as much of a boost as the mortal strike ability. Especially since ferocity pets have +10% haste. Pet abilities have been glaringly overlooked. Many families have none, and silithids' (an exotic) is strictly inferior to spiders' (non-exotic).
Ideally, they'd give all families abilities, but take family abilities off of survival's mastery (and adjust its mastery rate directly if needed).

[Shinryu Masaki]

It depends on the fight Xota, as Thunderstomp has a chance to give you a charge for each target hit, so in heavy AoE fights you can get charges like crazy.

[Xota]

Good to know, if I ever get my survival hunter leveled before its changed.

[Shelassa]

Right now I'm unsubbed and can't check, but a friend of mine plays Survival as off-spec and was too lazy to switch his Mastery>Haste gear from BM spec for then best Versatility for Survival, but he says that with a Tenacity Carrion Bird he's just overflowing with charges of Mongoose Bite - went ahead and switched Snake Hunter for Murder of Crows since there is no real use for it with a lot of Mastery in his opinion.