Ok, your first thought here is: "Lol, lame". However, if you remember it, Lemmings was cool.
Basic outline / justification:
MP pets are supposed to be manifestations of our anger / emotions. Unlike Engy / Crat pets (who are robots, dogs and hired hands) our pets are pure notum manifestations. That's pretty unstable stuff!
Non RP reasoning:
1) MP pets are bottom of the pile at the moment. Attack pet - lowest AR. Heal pet - outmoded by today's standards. Mezz pet - ok, but of little use apart from in specific situations. They need some love - shoving more AR on them / just more upgraded buff lines is ZZZzzz. How's about a real change?
2) Pet classes [As noted by Chrys] need some distinctive features, thus I feel MP pets should be the most "outlandish" ones. In the chain of pet users, MPs ironically are the weakest class, with the weakest pets.
3) MPs want to be pet users first, mobile turtles / AS machines second. I've always felt this, pretty sure most do as well.
4) I'm sure I've got an ancient RK nano loaded that did a DoT to my pet for a tiny amount of boost to its damage. I can't find it on Auno, but I remember using it on a level 45 pet and almost insta ganking it. So the precedent is there.
5) It'd be insanely fun. Watching a floating meatball zooming off to attack a blob & blowing up would be crazy fun. It'd also require skill in pet use [timing is everything] to get the best effects.
Way it works:
1) Instead of pets being mobile /afk damage (essentially mobile, annoying DoTs) this would make them proactive focused weapons, under the caster's control.
2) Each pet would have a different line of explosive buffs. e.g. Attack pet = damage nukes, mezz pet = AoE roots etc, Heal pet = AoE bonuses to friendlies. Pet QL would set ranges of numbers, nano QL would determine effect types. This would allow balancing across the MP level range, not just T7 love. e.g. Casting a nano on the attack pet that made it explode, the damage delt would be determined by the level of the pet. A variation here is that perhaps these nukes only work on meatball type pets - we'd need a couple of higher QL ones though (yes, I'm addicted to the idea of exploding meatballs).
Some themes:
1) World of GOO. Mezz pet on 10 second timer explodes into green goo, AoE slow effect
2) World of Ink. Mezz pet on 10 second timer explodes into AoE blind effect.
And so - I've a list here a couple pages long of ideas for them.
3) The nanos would work on a timer. e.g. Nano cast -> 10 seconds to explosion. There'd be a slow burn line (like old versions) and fast PvP ones (5 / 10 second timers)
4) SL pets would need their cast times tweaked.
5) New meatballs please.
6) All AoE effects should be inclusive. e.g. They effect everything, friendly or non-friendly inside the range. Chaos & disorder are fun
Anyhow, as a MP, I'd love to see this. At the moment, I do most of the DD, my pet is a one-click throwaway which I buff every 10 mins.