I never played bunny thumper but if it worked in Gw1 then im sure its fine and im not even really annoyed at what we got as much as people mis-classifying the class as some pet focused spec when the player is also sharing the damage and receiving empowered skills. I really think if they did a pet specific elite it wouldn't require that much extra for the playerside, no unique buffs from mechanics or traits on the player side just use what the player has to make it enhance the pet on top of giving it updated or controllable skills.
Examples; Giving pets more cc/taunt, receive a portion of player inc healing, taking some of the player stats, player sending boons to pets who get additional effects, crit-ing an enemy buffs your pets ferocity or applying condis improves its condi dps.