Yes, this is true.

Garuda is definitely not a bad pet, and it is unlikely it will go anywhere.

However it won't take much for ifrit to be competitive, just needs to actually get his bugs fixed.

I think at some point pet swapping is going to become a thing, if not during fights then at least between fights.

Also generally speaking, unless there are a lot of DoTs being placed on the ground, melee pets have little to zero trouble with AoE, as they get healed by healer AoEs too.

And for target swapping, unless you desperately need your pet on one target you can leave your pet on the main target forever.

We should be happy if ifrit gets more use lol, more choices are more fun.