I will attempt to gather some information and recommendations based on my own experience and input from other in this post. If something is incorrect or can be improved inform me here in a objective manner and we can change that.
Some Useful links:
Attackspeeds: http://web.archive.org/web/200611122305 ... speeds.php
Old Petopia: http://web.archive.org/web/200704081612 ... ndex.shtml
1.12.1 Beastiary https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/223 ... tiary.html
New to hunter, level 10 and dont know anything about pets? Start out with a boar that has the charge skill, it can take a punch and gets quickly to the mob and holds aggro at ok dps. If theres no boar in sight at the moment, a bear should be alright too. Obviously Beastmastery is the best talent specc for leveling, it turns your pet into a dps/tank monster.
About PvE/PvP:
For PvP you want a pet with high attackspeed for interrupting casters as much as possible, and the highest dps possible as second priority, your pet is almost never a target.
For PvE you want the most dps possible, and where needed, survivability. Having an extra pet at lvl 60 with a lot of fire resist for encounters in upper blackrock spire is a good idea.
Experience with pets on the Nostalrius 1.12.1 server:
Resistances:
Pets do not inherit imba resists they get reset to 0.
Raptors
Bite, Claw
***Raptor used to be highest dps, they are now the same dps as cats, but slower attackspeed(2.0)
Raptors cannot have the dash skill, but still it runs pretty fast with beastmastery talents.
Arathi Raptors
Tamed one at 31 and it has the same dps as a WC raptor, good pet.
Takk the Leaper
This raptor have the same dps as WC raptor(not confirmed), however it runs even faster than a normal raptor! However, this rare spawns only every 4-6 hours and is heavily camped by both factions so it's a pain trying to get it.
Cats
Bite, Claw, Prowl, Dash
Good dps pets with usually high attackspeed.
Echeyakee(spawns from horde barrens quest)
Has 2.0 attackspeed(slow) and reported to have a bit less dps than a raptor.
Needles Cougar(Thousand needles)
This one has really quick attack, 1.2 attackspeed.
The Rake(mulgore)
Rake also has 1.2 attackspeed as the needles cougar, unknown if dps is better.
Humar the Pridelord(north of ratchet)
1.3 Attackspeed and average cat stats, but it's the only black lion in game
Broken tooth(south of horde town in badlands)
Having an attackspeed of 1.0 is certainly "broken" making it the fastest attacking pet in the game
Windserpents
Bite, Dive, Lightning Breath
Windserpents have 7%+ dmg modifier contrary to cats and raptor who have 10%. The Lightning Breath they do ignores armor and can then in some cases do MORE dps than the others, also it has a 20 yard range to start dpsing even quicker! When ZG is released they get one rank higher of lightning breath in which case i will switch to this pet instead of my current raptor.
Attacking only with lightning breath: I think that you could issue the pet lightning breath via macro only to have it use the ability and go back. Currently it only says it is out of range and goes on to autoattack the target as usual via the lightning breath macro. Is this something fixable or issue at all? Probably only developers have more info on this specific issue although not a big one.
Boars
These are good for starting pets, charge(stuns) and tanking. Thats about it, boar's do not get gore until TBC.
Bellygrub
Bellygrub is in redrige and has a level 3 charge, which is cool, I had this pet for for some time then discarded it because the dps was too low.
Spiders
Spiders do not have great dps on the server, they do however at just about always have your next level of BITE for your main pet
Wolves
Not tested wolves, but they have the howl skill that increase the dps of the party for a time. The bloodaxe worg in lbrs has the highest level of bite, so tame that and use it until you have it learnt!
Mist Howler
lvl 23 1,3 AS