WRUP: Firefox is no longer my best friend edition

Why, Firefox? Why'd you do it? I liked you, I said nice things about you, and now your newest incarnation has turned into some ersatz hybrid of your former self and Chrome. This probably sounds like it wouldn't be that big a deal, but when your work centers around the internet, your web browser is like three-quarters of what you're looking at. Now I'm left with few options except to start using Chrome proper or become that guy and use Opera. I am disappoint.

Leaving aside browser melodrama, it's time for this week's WRUP, same as it ever was. No matter how many incarnations it goes through, the fundamentals never change — past the break, the Massively staff shares what we'll be up to over the weekend, along with this week's bonus question of what class we'd cut from our favorite game. So hop past the break and let us know what you'll be playing this weekend in the comments!

Beau Hindman (@Beau_Hindman): I'll be moving on to Atlantica Online for my next Rise and Shiny game, even though I have played it before — it has changed a lot and was taken over by Nexon, so things should be different. Then I will be trying to figure out which game will fit into the fifth slot for my game-a-day project, in which I schedule five games, one to be played on certain nights of the week with weekends "off" for other explorations. I hope this works. So far I have Mabinogi, Ryzom, Vanguard and Wurm Online. I need to fill that fifth slot, and I'm thinking it's Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II or Zentia. Hmmmm.

I wouldn't cut really any classes from my favorite MMO, simply because I have too many favorites. I hated the Gnome Rogues in World of Warcraft because they were doubly stupid: they were Alliance (no one cool plays Alliance) and they were Gnomes. Playing a Gnome Rogue was kind of like being that guy. Every that guy in history.

Brandon Felczer (@bfelczer): Well, since I was on vacation the last four days, I will be working. But! I will be playing Star Trek Online and RIFT — probably more RIFT than normal because of the free-friend weekend; I've got a bazillion friends who want one of the five codes I have, so I may also not make it through the weekend alive due to the flaming spears that will be thrown at my house by those that do not get one!

If a class had to be cut from an MMO, it should be the Paladin. Why? Because the majority of commenters in TDG say so and we allllllways agree with the commenters.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): I think I might be spending a bit of time in Lord of the Rings Online this weekend. It always seems to grab me every spring.

The thought of cutting classes bothers me, since I tend to think that a class-based game needs lots of classes to make up for a lack of other choices. If I had to pick, I'd chop the Assassin from Guild Wars — it's a cool class, but it's caused a lot of balance issues and doesn't really mesh well with the way the PvE game is designed. It's not your fault, Sin!

Eliot Lefebvre: After a truly brutal week, I want to relax with Final Fantasy XIV and City of Heroes in a nice stew of smashing things and roleplaying. That's all.

If I were going to cut a class from the minds of MMO developers everywhere, it would probably be the Warrior, mostly because any game with a number of classes has the Warrior and then a wide variety of variants on the Warrior. But really, I'd like to just force everyone to stop feeling the need to shoehorn the Big Four of D&D into every game as a baseline when you're just going to come up with more interesting variants of the core idea. Why start with the rote-boring Warrior, Rogue, Cleric/Priest, and Mage? Why not start off with Paladin, Assassin, Shaman, and Necromancer, and go up from there?

Jef Reahard: Not much MMOing for me this weekend. If I manage any time, it'll go to EVE Online. Bonus round: I prefer skill-based sandboxes, so you could cut all classes from all games and I'd be OK with it. If forced to choose, I'd remove the Jedi from any and all versions of Star Wars Galaxies.

Jeremy Stratton (@Jeremy_Stratton): I've moved on to the next phase in my plan to become a raider in Runes of Magic. I've got two pieces of gear that I feel are just about perfect, and I'm working on some others over the weekend. What class would I cut? I have to admit that sometimes I feel like maliciously sabotaging Rogues and Scouts (even though I have a Rogue) because they seem responsible for creating DPS-crazies. I get sick of hearing everyone talk about DPS in regard to any class. DPS this, DPS that. The Mages' DPS needs to be better to match the Rogues', the Priests' DPS needs to be better to compete with other classes. /sigh

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): Hopefully I'll strike a balance between all of LotRO's new Echoes of the Dead content and RIFT's recent world event, but knowing history, I'll probably get so engrossed in one that I'll forget the other. Also, I'm hoping to join EVE Online so that I can gank Shawn and be the first Massively staffer fired for podding his boss.

As for cut classes, I'd kill World of Warcraft's Rogue a hundred times over except that it would leave the psychotic population of the world without anything to do, and they'd flock to our libraries and supermarkets instead.

Karen Bryan (@JayeRnH): This weekend I'll be playing EverQuest II and RIFT as usual.

As for the bonus question, I have a few favorite MMOs, but I'd have to say that I'd cut about half the classes in EQII. I think the game has always suffered from the fact that the classes were designed around the notion of two separate factions, and when that was removed, it became glaringly apparent how much class bloat there was. Class balance is still a big problem, even years later.

Krystalle Voecks (@Krystalle): Plans for this weekend involve DC Universe Online, catching up on the DCUO Source podcasts (good stuff!), and spending some time working on my photography and my tan — not necessarily in that order.

I don't really have any particular classes I'd cut from DC Universe Online, since they're all pretty fun in their own way. I could probably do without pet classes in MMOs, if only because I've seen so many PUGs go bad due to the pets getting away from their masters, which then leads to the inevitable wipe. (That's not to say there aren't great pet-class players; there are. I've simply, sadly, found fewer good pet-masters than wipetastic ones.)

MJ Guthrie: As I am currently out of town and will be traveling all weekend for musicy goodness, I will be offline and unable to partake of that which is gaming. If I can steal a few moments, I will try to at least manage to get some dailies done in Aion or even give The Sims Medieval a go (looking forward to opening it up, even if it's not on my home computer!).

I'd rather get rid of personality types than classes. Then again, my favorite system is sans classes, so there would be nothing to cut!

Patrick Mackey (@mackeypb): I don't have a favorite MMO! Either way, I may be going back to playing Champions Online; I've been spending most of my MMO time in Global Agenda lately, but... yeah. Since Champions Online has classes now, I can readily say I'd remove the Specialist, as it is a worthless class and no free player should spend money on it.

Shawn Schuster (@SSchuster): This weekend I'm starting up my new life as an EVE player. It's been nice knowing you!

As for the class I'd cut from my favorite MMO, this is tough, because all of my favorite MMOs don't have classes. I'm so difficult!

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!