Avisaia: Mostly I wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your post. Such well-thought posts are refreshing around here.

Additionally, I didn't play Beastmaster in FFXI, but I did watch my wife play it a lot. It always bothered me that pets were recycled as they were. Does one care nothing for the bond between beast and master, or does he merely revel in the power held through commanding hordes of beasts to do his bidding?

I did, however, play a hunter in WoW for a while, and what I gained from that was a sense of a true bond between master and beast. I tamed my beast early on and he fought by my side nearly the entire game. I was proud when he helped me down creature after creature, and I was sad when he fell. That's how I would like to see the beast/master bond in any Tamer/Beastmaster class/job. I'd likely play it if that were the case.