They are all speculation, guesses, and gut feelings. No hard evidence really.
I felt it would be easier to say Battleragers don't get fighter features, instead they get these two Battlerager features. It might be confusing to use some fighter features but not all of them.
From a design standpoint, I think it's more important to get the class balance right, than to make it similar mechanics to a bag of tricks. Most any attacks from the beast companion should be tied to powers, just like any other class (or any other ranger build).
Brutal scoundrels get their strength bonus to damage for every sneak attack. Ruthless Ruffians get it only when they use a power that has the rattling keyword. It just seems Brutal scoundrel damage will come into play more often. But we can't know for sure until we know more about rattling.
I'm not sure if I understand where your predictions come from...Why would Battlerager Vigor be two abilities that replace three? I could see it replacing weapon talent and Combat Superiority, but also taking out combat challenge seems a bit much.
I felt it would be easier to say Battleragers don't get fighter features, instead they get these two Battlerager features. It might be confusing to use some fighter features but not all of them.
I think the Beast interaction will function like figurines of wondrous power and bags of tricks. Minor action to issue commands, but the creature cannot exceed the maximum number of actions it would normally have. I think that having it work in that fashion for magical items in AV would make it cumbersome to have a different mechanic for rangers.
From a design standpoint, I think it's more important to get the class balance right, than to make it similar mechanics to a bag of tricks. Most any attacks from the beast companion should be tied to powers, just like any other class (or any other ranger build).
How is Ruthless Ruffian not a good looking option? It might be a build, or it could be a weapon talent alternative. Who knows? Either way, it opens up new weapons available to the rogue and for multiclass characters this could be useful. I mean, why does it not look like a good option from the looks of it?
Brutal scoundrels get their strength bonus to damage for every sneak attack. Ruthless Ruffians get it only when they use a power that has the rattling keyword. It just seems Brutal scoundrel damage will come into play more often. But we can't know for sure until we know more about rattling.