Lump of Coal...

[Ritsuka]

THREE worthless Clockwork Rocket Bots given to Ritsuka. And both the Mini-Zep and Crashin Thrashin Racer Controllers. Great. A nearly full new set of FoS items I've owned since the years they were introduced, three of them the same pet, but not one of them the pet I don't have. I hope whoever decided to implement this system had a holiday just as frustrating and randomly disappointing as this.

[Harval]

Have had that exact same luck Ritz, except you're once more "lucky" with the robot than me.

[Ritsuka]

Have had that exact same luck Ritz, except you're once more "lucky" with the robot than me.

T-T Holiday bags are so cruel. You know there are people who would welcome these unwanted robots at least.

[Twilight]

I finally got the pet!! It's ... the wrong one.

[Harval]

This is just about over now. I gotta say it was a wonderful holiday Blizzard, I know I had a ton of fun with this joke of an event.

[Alaylith]

I got Lumpy with my main yesterday, finally and thankfully. :/

Sadly my new warlock is too little (70) to do the quest, she would have been happy about the chance of the ole Clockwork, which my main got about 3 times. <_<

Can't wait for the account wide pets, which will hopefully mean that most pets will be shared. I just do not have the energy to collect pets with 6 characters, even though I totally love them...

[Zyndra]

Well, after doing this daily religiously every single day of Winter Veil, just did my final attempts for this pet. No luck... not on my main, nor any of my alts, but my bags are overflowing with multiple copies of pretty much every other item possible from this sad event.

Dear Blizzard,

Thank you for crowding the loot table with pets from years past and worthless crap we could buy off of wandering vendors. I'm sure you thought you were being "nice" to all the newer players/collectors, giving them chances to obtain those old pets... but those of us that have been loyal and playing for years feel pretty disheartened. I'm not looking forward to repeating this "fun" next year.

This is, sadly, the first time I can say that I am completely and totally disappointed with a pet collecting experience.

[Bees]

Did it every day, got 4 clockwork rocket bots and no Lumpy. Why not tokens like most other holidays? Very disappointing

[Ritsuka]

In the middle of the night when dailies reset, I was surprised to find that I was far from being the only person around to get in one last fruitless attempt at this thing. I may as well have not bothered. The the Lump and the Frostling are going on my excluded list, because I am NOT "seeking" them, as Blizzard has decided there will be absolutely no way for me to do so. Once or twice a year I just get really aggravated and disgusted by what's supposed to be a holiday, while having practically the same chance of success I have the other 96% of the year when it's not even going on.

[Emberdione]

I did the daily on 7 characters, every day, and I got 3 robots, and 1 lumpy. ONE. None of these were on my main.

Rng is NOT FUN.

[Harval]

I wouldn't say RNG isn't fun in itself; it's mostly time limit, daily limit RNG that isn't fun. When you have a handful of chances at something that is apparently not a very good drop rate only a few times per year, it is the least fun of anything Blizzard has ever created. I don't mind a 1% drop chance on kills, fishing or whatever it might be. I can get the pet with enough time devoted to the cause. Even if it isn't on a sitting or even after 10 hours of trying. I always know it's there for me to get, and there is a certain rewarding sense once I obtain it.

RNG itself is alright, provided the player can determine how much time they are willing to invest into it. You will get it, eventually. That is the story with typical RNG; not this type of RNG though.

[Drrum]

I am so sad for all my fellow pet collectors that did not receive a lump of coal.

I don't know if there's a name for it, but one of my biggest pet peeves is someone who creates something he knows very little about or has no interest in using. For instance, an architect who designs a home that he won't live or work in, so he puts the laundry room two floors away from where all the laundry is used and stored. A store stocker who puts women's products or arthritis medicine on the very highest shelves. A snarky network sports journalist covering an olympic event she thinks is silly or trivial. And yes, a game designer who clearly is not a collector (and has no clue what drives collectors) designing an rng system merely to save bandwidth for the company. So many people do this kind of thing in their work. Not because they're mean or lazy or cheap, but because it simply never occurs to them to think about what they're doing before they do it. They don't consider how those who do use it are inconvenienced or aggravated.

I know Blizzard listens to us. I know there are people on the staff that truly love the game and know what they're doing. That's more than obvious. But I get this feeling some of the folks in charge of the pet/mount collecting aspect of the game still look upon collecting with a certain amount of disdain, even though it has surged dramatically in popularity in WoW and other games. A huge segment of the gaming population are now avid collectors and have made collecting a key aspect of their gameplay.

My long-winded point is that I wish those in charge really understood what it's like to be a collector. I wish they knew that we aren't asking for pet collecting to be made easy for us. Honestly, very few of us object to the occasional rare, expensive, difficult-to-acquire, or discontinued pet or mount. Most of us don't even really mind the rng, as long as we have unlimited access to farm. But crippling a collector's chances completely by combining rng with limited access is so discouraging. Since it appears Blizzard has no intention of changing that system, pets and mounts that drop from the rng/limited access system should be made tradable or at the very least, account-bound.

[Breanni]

Very well said, Drrum. Well said, indeed.

[Harval]

Well spoken indeed.

I frequented the old official WoW forums prior to the conversion to bnet and this discussion seemed to arise quite frequently. Any time myself or another serious collector complained about Blizzard's RNG pet decisions, the mindless masses would shout things such as "You aren't entitled to drops any more than the next person" or "Stop asking for handouts". Unfortunately, the majority feels this way and therefore you cannot fault Blizzard (at least not 100%) for systems such as this. They know they can please a large part of their customer base with it as most people are not really collectors (though I had no idea it was as bad as it is, according to MMO Champion's survey anyway).

Personally, I am glad for these boards. Being able to discuss pets and the faulty systems that award them with like minded, sensible collectors who get we are not asking for handouts or feel like we are entitled is refreshing. We all know that all we ask for is the chance to do actual work towards receiving a reward, and that we simply have the chance to obtain these items as any other player would obtain anything else in the game. People who seek gear from dungeons or raids have no limit to the chances they have at it. PVPers can fight until their heart's content to get every item they wish to obtain. Same for any rare mount farmer or transmog gear person; farm until you get it. We don't get the option with this poorly designed seasonal loot bag. The system is awful and I am glad to finally be in a place where everyone else can see that as well.

[Blisskey]

On the upside you are able to trade Lumpy once you learn the pet, just cage it.
I have discovered for those that have not been using alts that at 74 the quest is not available but at 84 it is. I am going to guess that 80 is the magic level.