The pets AND the focus items were altered to function as they did in classic based on research conducted by two premier mages from the classic era: Xalmat and Razzamatazz of the the Mage Compendium.
If you want to look at the data used to determine how the pets and focus items should work, here are the stats of pets at their MAX levels.
http://www.xalmat.com/eqsummoners.co...e-library.html
http://www.xalmat.com/eqsummoners.co...r-library.html
http://www.xalmat.com/eqsummoners.co...r-library.html
http://www.xalmat.com/eqsummoners.co...h-library.html
http://eq2.magecompendium.com/pets-f...s-library.html
Pet HP, max hit, stats varied with level for over three years.
Until 7/24/2002, as a matter of fact. That was when pets always summoned at their maximum level, rather than ≤ MAX-5.
When you aspire for classic, you get some of the "bad" with the good.
To those of you who didn't play Mages in this era, it seems like the biggest nerf in the world. To those of you who did, you'll remember it well and know how to deal with it.
//EDIT: I noted to Haynar that Pet Cannibalization needs to go back into the game until the server hits 12/18/2003, when
pet canni was nerfed.