WRUP: Poorly thought out mascot edition

Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to the new WRUP mascot: Samuel, the pizza-hating orca! Samuel absolutely despises pizza, hates anyone who eats pizza, and will click furiously at any shoreline diners which serve pizza. Other than that, he's a pretty standard orca. So keep an eye out for Samuel in the next few weeks of this column, as we read about his many adventures involving a complete lack of pizza. He does not play any MMOs or have anything to do with them, so I think this mascot thing will work out great.

Moving along, it's time for this week's installment of WRUP, in which we, the Massively staffers, talk about our plans for the weekend as well as whether or not the new expansion will bring us back to World of Warcraft. Also, our Halloween costume plans. Let us know what you'll be up to in the comments!

@Beau_Hindman: I'll be switching to this nifty little game called Warriors Saga that I found on the front page of this website. Will it be just another MMO? Who knows, it's browser-based and looks all right so far. Ask me next Saturday. I'll also be diving into Dark Age of Camelot's new new player experience. To be honest, though, as much as I love that game (and I do), the ridiculous UI gets me every time. My eyes are too old to be straining at such a tiny font. It literally makes me not want to play it sometimes. I contacted Mythic phone support and after an hour and a half on hold the kid told me he had no idea if it was possible, even suggesting that I hold down control and scroll my mouse wheel like you do to zoom in a web page! I was embarrassed for Mythic. Perhaps I can find someone who knows how to install a mod to help me increase the size of the font.

I will not be tempted to go back to World of Warcraft, no. In fact I find it funny that they repeat the same cycle every so often and the same friends of mine go back to it for a while and then stop. Rinse and repeat. Still, WoW is a fun game and well made. It's always good to see new content.

I will not be dressing up this year so much as dressing up the house and handing out candy. Me and my wife will probably sit out front with our laptops while handing goodies to the kids. It's a lot of fun.

@bfelczer: I have family in town this weekend, and I am off from work, so I am going to be doing my best to stay away from the computer. Therefore, I will not be playing anything this weekend. (But, if I do have a free second, I will jump into Star Trek Online's test server to check out the latest patch... shh!)

For the 1st bonus questions, I have not played WoW, except for one month several years ago and another week six months ago. I'm sorry, but nothing will lure me back now or in the future.

As for the final bonus question, I am still deciding between my normal "Sexy Cowboy" costume or my newly created "Chippendales Dancer" outfit. I've gained a few pounds since my birthday last month (went out to eat a lot) so I'm leaning more towards the cowboy one.

@nyphur: I'll probably end up spending most of the weekend programming and doing other boring things, but if I get time I'll likely throw in some League of Legends.

I've actually been playing WoW since the end of Wrath of the Lich King, but I was planning to perhaps quit when Guild Wars 2 and Diablo III come out. With the new WoW expansion, I might end up playing all of those games at the same time. I should be annoyed that Firelands will have been so short, with a single 7-boss raid in each tier, but I've reserved the name "Underpands" for a panda character so I'm almost obligated to use it.

@nbrianna: I'll probably play a little City of Heroes this weekend as I prepare for guests next week! And my husband and I have been considering a bit of duoing in World of Warcraft again, which more or less answers the second question. Cataclysm didn't do much for me and I bailed early for multiple reasons, but I'm liking the setting and streamlining and de-emphasis of raiding in Mists of Pandaria. We'll see whether Blizzard delivers.

As for costumes: I can't imagine a Halloween without a Princess Leia costume. I did the Bespin outfit one year — that was my fave.

There's a bit of a snow that might be hitting us here, which makes it a perfect weekend to hole up with Final Fantasy XIV, maybe some CoH, some Wild ARMs XF and Xenogears on the PSP, and an assortment of good books. I'm ready.

Really, I wasn't going back to WoW in the first place, but the expansion announcement roundly eliminated any chance that I might change my mind. To put it simply, no.

As for Halloween... well, I've got snow to deal with, so the most I might do is watch a horror film or two over the weekend. No time to assemble a really nice costume, sadly.

@Jeremy_Stratton: I'm going to be shuffling through some MMOs that are starting to collect dust, updating patchers and deciding if I want to stay subbed. It's also Halloween in Runes of Magic again, so I'll be seeing what new things I can scare up in the game. I was never a huge fan of World of Warcraft, but as I tweeted, Blizzard is learning how to tug at my heartstrings. Getting away from repetitive dungeon running? Yes, please. Putting features back into the players' hands to allow more player choice? Yes, please. I think I can unequivocally say that I will be subscribing the moment this expansion goes live. All they need now is to stop undermining their own crafting system.

@Sypster: I'm actually going to venture into Runes of Magic this weekend to see if its free-to-play is all that and a bag of chips, or if the chips are too pricey. Not that I need another game at this point, but I'm feeling adventurous.

No, I'm pretty much done with WoW at this point in my life. The new monk class looks cool, but the rest of the expansion seems remarkably derivative and kiddy, and that's not going to even slightly tempt me into paying Blizzard another dime. As for Halloween, I'll be dressed up as "dad handing out candy" because my kids aren't old enough to go out trick-or-treating yet. Maybe next year!

@mvmatt: It's my mom's birthday, so we're celebrating that (Happy birthday, mom! <3). Otherwise, I'll be playing some Guild Wars, some Final Fantasy XIV, and maybe even some WoW, if the mood takes me. I'll also be trying to finish up the story in Arkham City and raging a whole lot at Dark Souls.

For bonus question numero uno, yeah, I'll be coming back. Will it keep me around for years to come? Probably not. But will I resub for a few months to see what there is to see, play the new class/race, and so forth? You bet. I don't really get all the hate toward Pandaren. If — in a game where the list of pop-culture references looks like this — Pandaren are the straw that broke the immersion camel's back, I don't know what to say to that.

And I've yet to decide on a Halloween costume. Unlike Brandon, I don't have the looks to pull off "sexy [noun]" costumes, so I'll probably do something simple and nerdy. Ryu from Street Fighter, maybe? Something cheap and quick and easy. I don't usually put a ton of work into Halloween costumes. I'm just here for the party, yo.

@mackeypb: I'm finally finishing up my moving this weekend, but I'm going to try and get some quality gaming. League of Legends and Champions Online are big for me right now, but I've been bitten by the World of Tanks bug again too.

I won't be going back to WoW, but I'm cool with seeing Pandarens in it. Even if they added a Brewmaster hero class I probably wouldn't go for it, but it's cool nonetheless.

I will probably dress up for Halloween as an Iraq war veteran... meaning I'm probably not going to dress up. I have been considering doing a Lezard Valeth costume, but it's kind of expensive to make. I'd like to do it someday, though.

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!