It was added in WoD, 6.0.2 I believe. But it’s been a false choice for most of that time given that Hunters who truly wanted to be petless would lose considerable utility (most notably Mortal Strike and Lust/Hero) by doing so, unless they wanted to awkwardly pet-juggle in the middle of a high-stakes fight. This solves that problem.
They’re adding a talent to compensate for that, did you read the article? From there it’s just tuning.
It’s been around for 10 years. Long enough to be considered forever imo.
Not as “recent” as they are implying.
Not if the fun police at Blizzard have their way. They will force everyone into cookie cutter classes/specs where you have no choice. They are just itching to have their virtual vets put your pets to sleep, then hand you a bird. Essentially the devs are giving us the bird…
If they want to be thanked for this, I will give them the bird.
My prejudice? You are the one who said that casual players would be dying more without a pet tank when Marksmanship usually kills mobs after the first or second ability in the open world. You know, because of all of the front loaded damage.
As for choice? Wrong choices exist, like arcane mages only pushing arcane missiles.
As for fantasy about the dwarf? He could have been any hunter spec because when he was relevant, all hunters were just “pet class with ranged weapon.” But now BM has more focus on pets, survival is entirely different with melee, and MM is petless in most content and have been for YEARS.
It will really help if you read the patch notes before complaining. They literally talk about how BM will have both a 2-pet and a 1-pet option.
I am old. 10 years is recent for me in a 20 year game.
For NOW they will let them, but I was talking about the future when they decide that if it is ok to take pets from MM, then they can from everyone.
Until you realize that was 5 xpacs ago 
I would believe “as recent as SL”, but not “as recent as WoD”. That just doesn’t work since we are in TWW.
Ah, so doomsaying over a Slippery Slope fallacy. Got it.
Thats because there is more than one mob in the world… do you actually do anything else that isnt M+ or raid?
Hell, even normal questing you dont get to kill one mob by one, especially the elite ones or rares.
Like, one example, do you tried to do the bee world quest? place filled with elite bees and storm wolves? can you kill one with one aimed shot and don’t pull any other agro? bursting one bee and hiding until you can burst again is not rly a nice way to play when my pet can tank for me.
Sure, then can i have the damn choice still? i want the choice to go with or without pet.
MM are the gun users, the sharpshooters, the markmaship guys.
MM always was a pet spec, you only had the CHOICE to go petless.
those are elites that are meant for a group 
even then as a non pet class I can do it without one and so can anyone else with some skill at their class. Almost certain that even with a pet you won’t be killing a group of those elite bees solo if you can’t do it as LW anyways. Feel free to prove me wrong though
The group is me and my pet 
I can do better with a pet than solo thats for sure
You prove isnt possible then
All of these proposed changes should have happened years ago.
Pets are an inconvenience and dps loss for MM. If you want a pet, BM is the obvious answer. I can not think of a MM hunter who uses a pet in solo content or groups, i surely dont. When i do have a need for a pet i swap to BM simply because they are far more proficient with one, spec is literally centered around it . Who the hell specs MM for a pet? How are you playing a hunter and not understanding the point of the 3 specs?! That is like speccing feral and healing🤦♂️. If you want to be a lone wolf and long range glass cannon you spec MM. If you want to have pets fight along with you, then select the pet spec and play BM.
Said the Timmy behind a Classic toon. All posts and no achieves.
Bee WQ: Aimed shot and freezing trap. Feign death after killing one if you aren’t geared enough to nuke them all. Sending a pet in means you are more likely to aggro more.
You can play different specs if the fantasy no longer appeals to you. Survival hunters, Demo locks, Shadow priests and DKs say hi.
He had a gun. He was a dwarf. All dwarf hunters used guns because it was their starting racial ranged weapon. The level 1 hunters from Vanilla didn’t have specializations, they were just hunters.
Also, MM was never defined by their pet, the only interaction they had with it that wasn’t passive was misdirect and revive pet.
As for what I do, I do almost everything besides battle pets. Was even leveling two hunters recently, one as MM and one as Surv. I did delves petless just fine.
Correct. I’m an EU gamer and played hardcore with the boys on NA. If you’re that interested in my main I’d be more than happy to oblige. But the results of knowing it may not be the result you were looking for 
Everything gets more easy with a pet to tank or divide agro
I could say the same to you and other people who dont want pet, leave MM alone and go play another class or another game.
We can keep copping over this but his portrayed is more about MM and that reaimed truth for the entirty of the game still
Even now, it checks out: he isnt melee, he isnt survival, he only have one pet, then he isnt BM, he is MM
If hunters are defined by pet, and MM is a hunter spec, then by association MMs are also defined by their pet, simple math
MM was also defined by the CHOICE to not have one and to have one.
Ahh yes. Welcome back, Warlords of Draenor/Legion Blizzard.
“You think you want choice in how you play your favorite spec, but you don’t.”
You are referencing a character in a early 2000s cinematic. He could have been survival. You can’t reference something and apply a filter over it that didn’t even exist back then.
As for dividing aggro, that is actually untrue because then you have to focus on two health bars instead of one. You want aggro on one, so that you only need to worry about one. Pet being attacked? Is good because even if it dies, you can feign. Pet and you are being attacked? Well, now you need to keep yourself alive, keep an eye out to feign of mend doesn’t keep your pet up and pray you didn’t get hit by a DoT that could kill you if you need to feign to save yourself.
Hunters were defined by having a pet in Vanilla. Now, each spec has a different identity.
He is a hunter, he uses only one pet and he uses a gun, what spec right now better portray that?
When i said divide agro i meant to say while your pet keep one mob busy, you can kill another, its very useful.
Its also, very useful to have a pet and do PVP stuff like defend a base from a rogue, use the pet invisibility to attack an enemy by surprise, keep the enemy in combat so it cant run, fly, stealth or eat. Pet skills like slow comes in handy in flag maps, there is slowfall from other families
Lots of fun and useful stuff to do, that i cant do anymore, because blizzard want to reinvent the wheel and please m+ andys, when they can make the changes and keep the pets
All hunters are defined by having the pet, all specs could still summon the pet for its 20 years of game, you just had one option to not to.
You cant pretend having no pets is the definition of MM when it is an optional choice that only came to exist 10 years ago.