Personally I like the quest the way it is, and in a few days the bottleneck will open up and people will be able to complete more easily. I like how they scamper from one hidey hole to the next!
As for the continual wands that get used in these holiday quests, I think that this is perhaps because wands are hands down the WORST weapons in the game (I am ok with this, just stating a fact) and these weapons are just meant for fun really - they are just a funny accessory that aren't really meant to be used for practical purposes. The upshot of these weapons is that, since they are not restricted to any class, they do give ALL players to option to have at least ONE medium range weapon in their arsenal, which may prove useful in some situations... What I think should be changed is to class all of these wands (both past and present, so Wand of Hallows and the Snowball one as well as Sunflower Wand) as NOVELTY WEAPONS. That way, people who can't afford or simply don't want to shell out gold for brooms/sleds/carpets are able to at least train that ability if they want to - not to mention be able to wield it with some proficiency if they do not have the Wand ability.
That being said, I do think that it would be wise to come up with a few new types of holiday weapons with some comedic effects, like perhaps a bow that shoots parsnips, a carrot dagger, a big fish that can be used as a bludgeon, or even a "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch' or something like that (Monty Python anyone?

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