Ive not played the beta since the original "we are changing stuff" announcment a few months ago; so yesterday i decided to give it another play through; have to say its looking better than it was a few months ago.
Just little things here and there it does feel better than it did. As for these features, well i dont really understand why the pet things had been dropped, its not like they were a major system anyhow more a "fun little thing" that collected gold for you. Certainly nothing totally unique like Torchlight where the pet was a real feature - so for me it could have been left in and then a different system could have been implemented - or they could add to the companion AI.
still tho the game does play well and is certainly better that it was last time i played.
For one i applaud blizzard for there beta process actaully being a beta; so many beta's thesedays are demo's - at least this is a real itteration process and testing for various game systems they have.
Everyone on Bluesnews is synical, get over it.
edit: i cant spell, this is my disclaimer.