WRUP: The team that footballs the hardest is the new king of football edition

I'm given to understand that this weekend is the big event or whatever for football, during which the two teams will attempt to scrimmage more yards from the kick-off base to avoid a touchdown foul. Or something. Frankly, I know the rules but don't care, and as a result I prefer to mentally fill in all the blanks for the event using the rules set forth in this comic. So good luck to the Northern Minnesota Badger Eruptions and the Guam Stoves & Cycling & Football Club, which my zero seconds of research confirm to be the competitors.

Neither team, however, is taking part in this week's WRUP, wherein the Massively staff will tell you what we're going to be up to over the weekend. (It's not playing football.) And in a manner akin to football, which contains various roles like linebacker and point guard and catalog assault specialist, we've taken the time to talk about our favorite roles and class types. So read on past the break for our activities and let us know what you'll be doing in the comments. And tell me how many things I got wrong about football, maybe.

Beau Hindman (@Beau_Hindman): I'll be finishing up my time in Perfect World and then moving on to my next Rise and Shiny game. What will it be? As of the time of this writing, I have no idea. I'll also be loving me some Wakfu beta, some more Wizard101 for Choose my Adventure, and playing a couple of other games for future articles.

I normally gravitate towards ranged classes. I have thought about this for some time, and I realize that my class choices (as well as race and look) reflect my personality. After all, I don't want to be in the thick of everything; I want to contribute to the cause but love to be on the outside a bit. Ranged all the way.

Brendan Drain (@nyphur): I am so thoroughly addicted to EVE Online's new incursions that I foresee myself fleeting up to tackle them in most of my spare time this weekend. That is, of course, if there's actually a highsec incursion active when I'm on. Last night I lost an expensive Basilisk during the final mothership battle of an incursion, and everyone in the fleet donated a little bit of ISK from his reward payout to cover my loss. I haven't seen that kind of banding together of complete strangers in EVE since my old faction warfare days. It's seriously awesome.

To answer the bonus question, I almost always automatically go for a druid class if it exists in a game. There's just something really appealing about the idea of druids that pulls me in. If I can't be a druid, I tend to be some kind of mage or ranged caster class. Melee classes just don't feel right, and more often than not they don't get to wear pretty dresses. How boring!

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): Same as always for me — if I've time to play anything, it'll probably be World of Warcraft, but I've got a few things sitting on my hard drive to tempt me away.

If there's a bard class in the game, it's a sure bet I'm playing one. But since they're uncommon, I usually find myself hunting for hybrid caster classes. Weather mages, water mages — shamany/druidy types, I suppose. I admit to liking healers and crowd controllers in particular, probably because they always feel like meta classes, characters that play around with the game rather than diving into the usual hack-n-slash.

Eliot Lefebvre: There's an anniversary party going on over at Lush on Saturday, and I'm going to be in attendance for more stress-relieving bath bombs. In terms of actual gaming, I've got some Metroid: Other M on deck for console gaming, Spore for offline enjoyment, and a solid mix of Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft in the online sphere. It should be a fun ride.

I tend to like heavily armored hybrid classes when I have the option, but more than anything I gravitate toward something unique. Melee is just where I love to be, even though it seems like ranged usually gets all the cool toys, and if I can dual-wield, so much the better. In a party, I'm flexible, but I seem to wind up as DPS coordination, especially when Ms. Lady and I are doing runs together.

Jef Reahard: I'll be playing some more DC Universe Online, this time on the PS3, as well as furthering my Age of Conan factional career. Still dabbling in Aion too. Oh, and I should probably get back into Global Agenda for the spiffy Make Your Mark event. Yep, a typical weekend — never enough time.

My mains are invariably some form of caster/ranged DPS. I gravitate towards CC as well, which is one reason I can't leave Aion for good. The Sorc in that game is easily the most fun I've ever had with a casting class. I've tried to play tanks, but I can't do it with a straight face. The fact that the mobs beat on the heavily armored guy who does no damage and ignore the mage standing in the corner nuking them into next week is one of the more lulzworthy aspects of DIKU MMOs.

Jeremy Stratton (@Jeremy_Stratton): I decided to download Perfect World International, again, sorta. I had played it before Perfect World Entertainment attached "International" and before I had my new graphics card. Hopefully my Mage is still there. Early on, I gravitated toward archers, then rogues and now casters. It really depends on which MMO I'm playing. I love the Elemental Shaman in World of Warcraft, but not the Rogue. However, I like the Rogue in Runes of Magic, but not Scouts so much.

Karen Bryan (@JayeRnH): Sneaking in time to play EverQuest II and RIFT when I'm not hosting my son's birthday party and wolfing down nachos during the Super Bowl.

I love playing a ranger, and I always initially roll one up with every game I play. But usually, I focus on playing whatever class is most needed in my guild (usually healer).

Krystalle Voecks (@Krystalle): This weekend will involve DC Universe Online and an unnamed beta for me. Beyond that, it's the weekend for Superbowl parties, which means I'll spend quite a bit of time watching my friends and family yell at the TV like total lunatics. Always fun!

As for favorite classes, I used to roll tons of DPS casters as that's what I tend to play in P&P games. However, I tried out a rogue a handful of years ago and enjoy that archetype far too much now to go back to being a full-time glass cannon.

MJ Guthrie: This weekend will see me soaking up some double XP on my healer in Aion and finishing up the last bit of AP for my level 55 PvP necklace! Depending on how much sleep I can forego, I will also examine life on the dark side and continue with my Asmo. I had planned on diving into Earthrise, but that is contingent on my managing to get the client (*coaxes the servers back up*). I also would like to round off with a bit more flying in DC Universe Online, but... c'mon... double XP!!!

With the exception of two games, I have always played a healer class — it's in my blood. The only thing that seduced me away was a nice stealthy rogue and a whip! But I just can't stay away from healing and end up with a second main/alt healer anyways (or amusingly trying to heal with daggers). If they would just let my healer stealth and use a whip, I'd be set!

Patrick Mackey: I'm playing Champions. Duh! Even though my main is 40 and I rarely play other characters, I still have tons of stuff to do. I need to take some lowbie archetypes through the final versions of the new content, but I'm resisting since they will get deleted afterwards. Probably. My friends and I also picked up Puzzle Strike and it is stupidly fun. Because all of my friends are nerds, we will probably be playing Rifts (the PnP game) or Hisoutensoku or Puzzle Strike instead of watching football this Sunday.

I tend to gravitate towards casters and pet masters, and I like villains, making warlock/necromancer type characters a personal favorite. I like the flexibility of disposable/resummonable pets, but I'll pick up just about anything if it has the right feel. I love stealth classes too, especially in PvP.

Shawn Schuster (@SSchuster): RIFT! I'll probably spend all of my free time this weekend playing RIFT as I try to nail down which class(es) I'll make at launch.

As for favorite class types, it's always support. Whether I'm ranged damage, backline buffing or a pet master, I love helping the group out from behind the scenes. Some of my favorites include WoW's Warlock, Tabula Rasa's Exobiologist and Guild Wars' Mesmer.

At the start of every weekend, we catch up with the Massively staff members and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game — and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!