Hello! I realise I won't be a familiar face around here, but I'm a long-time lurker that has been closely following the reaction to this thread. I normally tend to avoid posting because I don't feel strongly enough about something to overcome the anxiety involved with putting my opinions out into the world to be judged by anyone. This changed when my favourite developer, one Mr Jeremy Feasel, mentioned on Twitter that were they to be made tamable then Raccoons would be classed as Rodents. That comment was quite surprising to me and rattled around in my head until I remembered this thread and it all crystallised. I now have an opinion strong enough to post: I REALLY don't like how pet families in WoW currently work.
Specifically, I think they are inconsistently applied in such a way that they are at an unsatisfactory midpoint between specific and general, and should be changed to be either one or the other. Lizards and Scalehides best exemplify this. Diemetrodons are Lizards, while Basilisks, and Crocolisks (which are clearly biologically related) are their own unique families. You could argue that they have distinct features (petrification, semi-aquaticness) that differentiate them. Okay, in that case, why are Thunder Lizards grouped with the other Scalehides? Shooting lightning from your face is I think as much a differentiating factor as petrification, and certainly more of a difference than Crocolisks have! Well done, you can hold your breath, have a biscuit. Contrarily, Snapdragons are included with Lizards despite being genetically engineered amphibious Fish-Wolves. Quite why they can be Lizards but Crocolisks can't, I am afraid I do not know. Likewise, and in response to the tweet that started me on this path: if Raccoons are Rodents because they eat trash, then logically Bears should also be.
Just to clarify, I do not think this is a gamebreaking issue, just something that could be a more satisfying system than it currently is. Also, while I feel strongly that there should be changes made, I feel much less strongly about whether those changes should favour specific or general families. I've noted preferences for both directions in this thread. Accordingly, I'd like to present two scenarios:
Scenario 1: Specific Families
Split each different model into its own family. Remodels can stay in the same family as their original, as can non-biological additions.
i.e. Rylaks are once again separate from Chimaera (and now so are the Outland Chimaera), but the Rylaks with Engines are still Rylaks. There's only one family of Bears.
Each family receives an combination of a spec, an ability (with perhaps several variants of each) and an exotic ability that's BM only.
With 200 stable slots we now have significantly more slots than pet families for the first time, so there's the room needed for these distinctions
Examples:
Thunder Lizard - Ferocity, Lightning Slow, Blood of the Rhino
Wind Serpent - Cunning, Lightning Slow, Magic Damage Reduction
Mushan - Ferocity, Scale Shield, Blood of the Rhino
Scenario 2: General Families
Much like Wain described in the OP, merge a whole bunch of families together, changing the names if necessary. Families are loose groupings based on an in-universe (and therefore potentially faulty) understanding of their biology. Ideally each remaining family should be similar in some obvious way, but have internal variety from having multiple models.
Here are the families that I'd choose (with some accompanying commentary):
Apes - Gorillas, Monkeys
Nothing much else fits. Maybe yetis if it's decided they're more beast than humanoid.
Behemoths - Clefthooves, Scalehides.
The families are clearly similar enough to merge, but I couldn't justify keeping either name. Elekks and Mammoths could also hypothetically go here.
Birds - Birds of Prey, Carrion Birds
There's been confusion and overlap here since the beginning. Make it official, I say.
Cats
While I was admittedly tempted, I think adding Hyenas here might cause a riot.
Canines - Dogs, Foxes, Wolves.
I believe technical names such as Ungulates have been preemptively vetoed, but I think Canine is probably common enough parlance to not be ruled out due to this.
Crawlers - Crabs, Krolusks, Scorpids
There's a good case for putting Scorpids with Spiders instead but I'm not sure if an Arachnid family falls afoul of the Ungulate Rule.
Dinosaurs - Devilsaurs, Direhorns, Raptors
Relatively uncontroversial I think. Brutosaurs here too if I've been a good boy this year.
Feathermanes - Chimaera, Feathermanes
The flying hybrid-beast category. May need a new name.
Flies - Moths, Wasps
Flying insects. I think the name works as we have fireflies in one family and butterflies in the other, but am prepared for someone to yell at me because neither are true flies.
Gorecrowns - Goats, Oxen, Stags
The obvious horned/antlered ungulate group that is easily conceptualised together but much harder to name. This was my best effort.
Hounds - Core Hounds, Stone Hounds
I agree with Wain in the OP and think both hellhound types belong here with the other special dog-adjacent mythical beasts.
Insects - Beetles, Water Striders
A group of grounded invertebrates that could maybe broaden to include others such as Snails, though that would probably require another name change.
Lizards - Crocolisks, Basilisks, Lizards, Warp Stalkers
Originally I had the six legged 'lisks separate, but as I mentioned earlier, Diemetrodons are in Lizards already. There's not a huge number of models here so it might be better to have them stick together.
Mechanicals
As is. I have no idea how you could justify adding anything, and there's good variety here already.
Ravagers - Ravagers, Silithids
Draenor Ravagers are very similar to the standard Silithid. Without the restrictive naming of the Silithids family holding back their addition, we could finally see tamable Kunchong.
Rays - Sporebats, Rays
I love Sporebats but with a similar body shape and inexplicable air swimming they're basically fungus rays.
Riverbeasts - Riverbeasts, Turtles, Toads
A broad catch-all group of semi-aquatic creatures, oddly I think the name still works.
Rodents
Only two models currently but there are so many potential tames on the critter/beast line that I'd love to see here. Beavers to start, as they've been tagged as beasts since Mists.
Screechers - Bats, Pterrordaxes.
Non-avian, non-insectoid fliers. Many wild Pterrordaxes and Bats have a screech ability so while they are evolutionarily unrelated, grouping them is not the biggest stretch.
Serpents - Hydras, Serpents, Wind Serpents
Sneks. Hydras are a bit weird here, but are ultimately serpentine even if they are a bit, err,
leggier than the others.
Spiders - Shale Spiders, Spiders
A pretty easy addition and Spiders have enough variety to not need to be merged further, though there are possibilities.
Striders - Cranes, Tallstriders
A category of flightless avians because the combined Bird family was big enough already. The flightless Teroclaws and the Raven Lord ought to go here too.
Worms
As is, I think, because the individual Worm varieties are distinctive enough to make it a real pain to put anywhere else. If Insects is broadened for Snails and the like then Worms could be included there too.
The others that I'm not sure where to place:
Blood Beasts - I've never been keen on the two creatures here being grouped, so my favoured option is to split them up. Crawgs should probably be with the Toads they once were. Ticks are a bit more difficult to place, but could go in Flies, Insects or maybe even Ravagers. Together, I can't see a good place to add them to.
Spirit Beasts - Personally I'd prefer them spread around their lookalike families, but I can see an argument for just keeping them as is.
Dragonhawks - Their body shape makes them somewhat similar to Rays, but with their two-things naming I think the hybrid-beast Feathermanes could actually fit better.
Bears, Hyenas - Neither of these fit nicely in any of the other groups. Potentially they could go together in a group of miscellaneous Carnivorans that aren't obviously Canids or Felids. Most of the other candidates for such a group (like the Mongooses and Raccoons) are critters and so sadly rather low-poly.
That brings us down from over 50 to 25 or fewer families, eliminates both single-model families and exotics, and makes the whole system both more consistent and future-proof so that new families don't end up having to be added every expansion to accommodate new pet availability.
One last note is that I'm broadly in favour of the points in the OP about changing your pets spec, bringing weaker pets up to parity, and doing away with the exotic distinction, regardless of any changes to families themselves.
That's a load off my mind. Thoughts and comments are welcome.
