It is funny because I was very anti-animal companion when I took the survey, but I might be able to live with this. It is a unique defining schtick or power source for the class and it makes the Ranger something other than a stealthy nature Paladin. Maybe they need to build a rogue variant Scout for people who want to play the sneaky survivalist ambusher type which is more how I see the class, but I can get 90% of the way there just power swapping features from the Rogue dropping the urban flavor and adding a bit of healing. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. Even though it doesn't match my personal vision, it does seem like it will be a much more defined class and the possibilities sound like a lot of fun if they can manage to overcome a player with two pawns from dominating combat.