How much mini-management is too much?

No, Warlocks don't have anything at all to do management-wise with their pets.

Well, beyond making sure they don't die.

Hunter management is way too much, fortunately there are mods that alleviate the pain.

Buying and keeping bullets stocked is easier than I thought it would be though, so at least that part is ok.

You've never played past 12...a whole 3 levels with a pet...

I haven't played in a while, but I got to 60 and played quite a bit then.

Ultimately, the only real annoyance was feeding it, which a mod easily took care of. The only gameplay function I can see this doing is being a minor cash sink. Kind of unnecessary.

Loyalty becomes a non-issue after a few levels with a pet. Kind of annoying, and probably unnecessary, but unltimately a non-issue.

Generally you won't swap pets much. Most hunters have one or sometimes two main pets. If you really feel you need a third knock yourself out. Stabling them makes it so you can't just swap pets in the middle of nowhere, so it is a gameplay factor. Maybe the could remove the stable master and make it an in-town ability or something. But again, this is pretty much a non-issue.

Skill training is absoutely necessary. It allows you to customize your pet's performance as you desire. It may seem bothersome early on, but later on you may spend as much time speccing your pet as you do your own skills. For example, I PVPed almost exclusively. I had Brokentooth, a cat. I maxxed out Claw and Prowl for him (I was a NE, we could hide together). Then, since he was rarely a target and died to more AE than anything, I upped his resistances, like frost and arcane, and also spent some points on stamina. For a tank pet, you would want to max out armor and stamina. and maybe some resists. Raid pets would probably be similar to pvp pets...resists, STA, and offensive abilities (and maybe Cower).

So I'm gonna halfway agree with you on this. Loyalty, and probably feeding as well are not really a very functional component and could probably be scrapped. Stabling or a similar function is a necessary gameplay element, and Skill training is a very very good thing.

I have a 60 Lock' Pets are great because their disposable.

Have a tuff MOB trained on you as your trying to cut through a field? Sick the Voidwalker on it and ditch them both.

The voidwalker always comes back cheerful as ever and ready for the next fight.

So, ok a hunter isn't for you then. I don't really see the point of this post?
Wouldn't Shamans be easier if they weren't always worrying about what totem to drop?
Why do we need to eat to heal ourselves? Why can't we just have a "sit" button that increases healing speed? Having to carry food around is such a pain.
Rogues would be so much better to play if there weren't all those position-related skills.

OK, enough of my sarcasm. I played a hunter to 60 pre-BC and found collecting and leveling/training pets to be as much fun as leveling/training myself.

I play a 70 hunter, and pet management is by far the least of my worries.

If you fish or cook you almost always have enough extras or byproducts to toss to your pet. I hardly ever pay for food anymore. As for skills, it can be a bit of a hassle getting them, but you do it once and forget it.

Pets bring an additional fun factor in that you can have a different pet for different situations (PvP, PvE solo, or PvE raid) or to suit your style of play. Don't think your bear pet is doing enough damage, grab a cat. Cat isn't living long enough, grab a turtle. Going into PvP, grab a scorpion to slow down those pesky runners.

The some people view pets as a dot with a life meter, but when properly used they can be very effective.

my 2cp.

I'm casually levelling a hunter alt and I haven't noticed that pet maintenance is such a pain. As your pet increases in loyalty levels it stays loyal for longer without being fed. I don't even use a mod for feeding: I just have some pet food and the "feed pet" icon on the taskbar beside each other, and when I notice my pet not being "green" happiness, I click on one and then the other and my pet is fed. One feeding usually takes care of it.

As for why you'd want to play with a pet... well, hunters are probably the most powerful and flexible characters in the game because of their pets. Too powerful, really. Definitely easy mode. But hey, someone high up at Blizz must play a hunter because they've never been decisively nerfed.

The Mastermind in City of Villains is my favorite pet class. You can use your pets like a bludgeon and just send them to attack if you want to and they usually handle themselves, or you can choose to micromanage to optimize your damage output.

this is part of the hunter class, if you don't like it roll a warrior. plus its easy to keep the pet fed & happy.

Well, I love the hunter class. Pet care is just part of it. Do you have pets IRL? I bet not. Caring for in game pets is a piece of cake compared to RL pets. And it is FUN, the slim wolves run just like an enthusiastic dog, the cats are beautiful, I love crabs for some reason. I have 5 hunters 60 and up, one 70. It is just the most fun class in game, for me.