Should I tie myself down to just wolves?

[Palladiamorsdeus]

I am sorry, but if you are wiping on the damage increase that would have been caused by having a wolf, then your group has bigger problems then your pet choice. Not saying you are wiping, mind you, just that your choice of pet isn't going to make a huge overall difference in the end. The increase isn't THAT great, but again it comes down to the fact that it is a DPS increase, and even if it were just .1% better then the next best, you'd still see everyone running around with a wolf.

I say use what you want, but do so intelligently. A good BM with say, a croc will still manage to out DPS a mediocre or bad SV with a wolf. ((Don't get me started on MM.))

[kamoodle5]

Well, even if you don't have a wolf but have a ferocity pet, there's still Call of the Wild. It's not much since it only buffs the hunter and their pets but it will work to have that temporary attack power boost.

Then there are plenty of other pets that can be proven useful in raids because of their special pet abilities that may provide a small benefit (like the tallstrider's dust cloud).

So, even I don't find the wolves to be the answer to everything. Don't get me wrong: I like wolves in general because they look cool.

Thank goodness they made the Beast Aspect to where it's not so useless anymore. Even I'll jump to that aspect to give my pets a bit of a boost.

[Nachtwulf]

I'm probably coming late to the party but you really only "have to have a wolf" if a) your guild is hardcore enough that you will be taken to task over a dps difference of about 100 or so, or b) if your skill is so bad you need every crutch you can get.

Given what you've said, I'm inclined to believe neither is the case. That being so, I'm going to echo what a lot of other people have said; to wit, run with what you like. I'm BM/MM and I raid with a raptor. I have three reasons for this; one, I don't have to ditch it if I change specs between fights, two, my guild has a bunch of rogues who love me for bringing a bleed to the table, and three, raptors have about the best dps out there (in point of fact, I saw better numbers with a wellspecced raptor than I did on a d'saur).

Oh, and I guess 4th... I -like- my pretty blue raptor 'cause he matches my draenei. *cough*

Basically, in a nutshell, your choice of pet is not going to make or break your ICC run. Period. I probably wouldn't advocate running with a turtle, but both Cunning and Feroc bring useful things to a raid environment besides dps. Bring a tallstrider and watch that boss whiff the tanks. Bring a sporebat or a carrion bird and nerf those trash packs. Hell, I've heard Snatch works on some bosses, which was surprising to me. SO. Think outside the box and use what pet you want to!

[Anansi]

I honestly don't care what pets Hunters use, and I'm rather pleased when I see non-Wolves in a raid. However....

I'm probably coming late to the party but you really only "have to have a wolf" if a) your guild is hardcore enough that you will be taken to task over a dps difference of about 100 or so, or b) if your skill is so bad you need every crutch you can get.

Wrong on both counts. Properly used Furious Howl nets much more than 100 dps. A properly used Furious Howl is not on auto-cast but used manually in conjunction with procs for a multiplicative effect, such as Paragon or Greatness. If a player lacks skill, the Wolf is not going to bring much more DPS and as such will in no way act like a crutch. That arrogant sensibility is simply not productive to getting the most raid DPS out of a Hunter.

I have three reasons for this; one, I don't have to ditch it if I change specs between fights, two, my guild has a bunch of rogues who love me for bringing a bleed to the table, and three, raptors have about the best dps out there (in point of fact, I saw better numbers with a wellspecced raptor than I did on a d'saur)

Presumably then you are raiding predominantly as Beast Mastery in which case that's a personal preference and not out of interest of bringing the most DPS you can. And that's fine if your raid is content with that. But even as BM, a well-used Wolf is still the highest DPS over a Devilsaur (not by much but it is).
As for the Bleed, Rogues can bring two Bleeds (Garrote and Rupture), plus if you were MM you'd bring a Bleed via Piercing Shots plus be able to maximise your raid DPS. Not saying you must be Marksman, I'm just offering a counter perspective to your argument.

Basically, in a nutshell, your choice of pet is not going to make or break your ICC run. Period. I probably wouldn't advocate running with a turtle, but both Cunning and Feroc bring useful things to a raid environment besides dps. Bring a tallstrider and watch that boss whiff the tanks. Bring a sporebat or a carrion bird and nerf those trash packs. Hell, I've heard Snatch works on some bosses, which was surprising to me. SO. Think outside the box and use what pet you want to!

Choice of pet might not make or break an ICC run, but it could potentially cause problems. Bosses with enrage timers like Festergut or Putricide need the DPS to really hit hard, especially on 25 man, and it's very possible that a lack of DPS could cause that timer to not be met. If you are truly an exceptional BM player and are keeping up in the top DPS ranks in your raid, great, but otherwise it's not fair to have the other DPS try to fill in the gaps.

I totally agree that it is a good idea to have a variety of pets available for certain situations and encounters, but one of those situations is squeezing every last drop of DPS you can out of your character.