TLDR: The Turnip Punching Bag and Sturdy Love Fool should despawn 5 minutes after combat ends, not 5 minutes total.
Earlier today I saw a Druid in all green items running in a predictable pattern, rounding up beasts before AoE’ing them all down. He would then skin them all and immediately resume his routine. Figuring he could use some vegetables in his diet, I dropped my Turnip Punching Bag toy down in the middle of his group of mobs. Surely this is what he wanted, because he spent the next few minutes wailing away at it.
The only problem is that the punching bag disappears after only a couple of minutes. Blizzard, if somebody gets the sudden urge to practice their DPS rotation of thrash, swipe, and moonfire while out in the game world, why not let them do it for as long as they please? If they want to attack the punching bag for 8+ hours, more power to them!
If the punching bag toy items lasted for as long as players are attacking it, this would surely improve the gameplay of those who drop them on top of my fellow Druid brethren. We’d plop one down, then sit back and watch as the totally legit player attacked it for hours on end. Imagine how happy the player on the other end would be once they realized what their character has been doing all day.