A Pet for Every Holiday

i noticed that with patch 3.3, there is a new valentine's day achievement: tough love. it's obviously a new holiday specific boss encounter, much like the headless horseman, ahune, and coren direbrew to name a few.

that got me thinking, it seems as though they're adding a holiday specific boss for each (major) seasonal event, so what about pets? here's what i came up with:

• Brewfest - wolpertinger and pint-sized pink pachyderm
• Love is in the air - peddlefeet
• Children's week - curious oracle hatchling, curious wolvar pup, egbert, mr. wiggles, peanut, speedy, whiskers and willy
• Hallow's end - sinister squashling
• Winter veil - clockwork rocket bot, father winter's helper, tiny snowman, winter reindeer, winter's little helper
• Noblegarden - spring rabbit
• Pilgrim's bounty - plump turkey
• Midsummer fire festival - scorchling and spirit of summer

the only in-game events that are missing from this list are day of the dead, pirates' day, and the lunar festival.

we have already seen a potential pet for day of the dead, the macabre marionette, and there's hope that blizzard may feel generous enough to make it a permanent pet for next year's event.

the tough part about this, though, is that because it's such a short holiday, many will be upset that they missed out on a pet that could 1 - add to their obsession collection, 2 - give them that last pet to reach an achievement, 3 - take part in enjoying a new vanity item. in the end, it will be up to blizzard. they've already experienced the dissatisfied outcry from the vanity and pet collecting community this past day of the dead; it wouldn't surprise me if they take the "safe" route and keep this holiday the way it is. (fixing the marionette bug for next year, of course).

so i'll mark that event down as a "maybe, but unlikely" in terms of pairing up with a pet.

but what about pirates' day and the lunar festival? what type of pet would suit these holidays?

pirates' day seems fairly obvious to me, although we already have quite a few flying birds in game. yes, i'm thinking of a parrot. maybe a fabulously colored talking parrot...?

because this in-game event is only a one day festivitiy, IF blizzard were to implement a pet for it, it would most likely fall under the same treatment as the day of the dead companion; an event-specific vanity pet that disappears after a day or two of fun and games. again, the likely reasoning behind this would be to avoid having complaints on missing out due to such a short holiday duration.

the lunar festival, on the other hand, is a 3 week long event that has yet to see its own pet pairing. i can understand why. what kind of pet would best compliment a holiday that honors the elders, has lots of firecrackers and food, and is hosted by night elves?

lunar festival is based on the real life event, chinese new year, in which all of the aforementioned festivities take place (minus the 'hosted by night elves' part :P). during this time, there are parades with dancers, paper tigers and dragons, etc. there are also lots of more personal occurrences such as family dinners and visiting the graves/shrines of ancestors.

there is currently already a dragon pet, although its no longer available to newer players, so perhaps a new dragon pet is in order. or even a dragon kite that occasionally shoots fireworks! it would be like having a firework show all year-round on a string.

i'm sure if given the chance, the pet collecting community could come up with dozens and dozens of ideas for potential lunar festival companions. and i wouldn't doubt that blizzard devs are already brainstorming ideas too.

even if the day of the dead and pirates' day are too short to be worth implementing permanent companion pets, i do hope that at the very least the lunar festival gets its own pet-pairing some time soon. and whatever blizzard decides to do with these three pet-less in-game holidays, i hope that everyone is given a fair chance to enjoy it.