WRUP: Just say no to Brandon Tartikoff

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff 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!

Dumb. Creepy. Lame. Stupid. Life-ruining.

These are all words to describe Bloodthistle. (Conveniently enough, they also describe Tyler Caraway.) Bloodthistle is all the rage amongst inner city blood elf youth. A cheap, quick buff that makes your magic stronger.

But it comes at a price. Bloodthistle withdrawal. Not only does it slash your intellect, but it's the number one cause of terrible public service announcements starring Brandon Tartikoff.

If a Thistlehead tries to get you hooked, get a teacher! Or just tell them: you're not a chicken -- they're a turkey. That line will burn. That line will burn them so bad.

You know why you don't need the thistlejuice? Because you've got a pretty sweet natural high right here in WRUP. Hearing what your favorite WoW Insider writers are up to this weekend is an unrivaled head rush. And seeing them answer this week's bonus question, where I ask them to tell me how the story for World of Warcraft is going to end? Pure nirvana.

Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) This weekend will likely be spent moving things around, figuring out what's wrong with my car (99% certain it's just a dead battery because I didn't shut the door all the way the last time I drove it...oops), doing a little raiding, and maybe squeezing in a little Skyrim for the first time in a month or so. I miss playing it!

Bonus question: After an indefinite period of time in which the Alliance and Horde happily continue to beat the everloving snot out of each other, the draenei point out that it would be in the best interests of Azeroth for everyone to unite and work against this gigantic dark amazing war that Velen has been yammering on about. The draenei are backed by the naaru, and since no one is in the habit of arguing with glowing windchime possible demigods, everyone agrees to this unification. The final battle takes place against a massive army of the best of the Burning Legion, followed by Sargeras himself -- many lore figures die trying to bring him down, but in the end the power and might of the mortals of Azeroth backed by the shining Light-blessed powers of the naaru are too much for Sargeras to handle, and he goes up in flames.

...at which point, everyone is terribly happy. Terribly, terribly blissful, and happy, and full of peace and warm feelings. The same kind of blissful peace and calm one feels when one is in the presence of a naaru. And when the naaru congratulate us on our victory, we're so terribly, terribly happy about that, too. Which is about the point that the naaru celebrate their success at taming an entire universe into blissful servitude, and rejoice in the fact that they are indeed the true masters of so-called "free will."

WoW 2 will launch when somewhere in distant Azeroth, a hero awakens ... a dark hero, chained to the Frozen Throne of his own divination and curiously immune to the effects of the naaru's calming powers. Bolvar's back, bitches. And this time, he's angry.

Chase Christian (@madsushi) I am working through the weekend, so it will just be a lot of overtime and networking equipment for me.

WoW will end when they bring back 40-man raids.

Chase Hasbrouck (@alarondruid) I gave in and bought Kingdom of Amalur, despite my backlog, because it's definitely my type of game. It's solid, with excellent combat mechanics, but probably too long for its own good. The feeling of character progression starts to break down in the mid-game where you become massively OP (even in "hard" mode), and makes the rest of the game a slog to get through the storyline, which is good but not groundbreaking. Skyrim, in contrast, has worse gameplay but survives better due to its sandbox nature. Bonus: WoW ends eight years from now when the entire universe is revealed as a Jim Raynor dream sequence in Starcraft 3.

Dan Desmond (@antigen_) After last weekend's ME3 multiplayer marathon, I think I've just about sworn it off until the actual game comes out; I wouldn't want to get bored of the game this early on! Otherwise I need to work on gearing out my assassin in SWTOR and maybe run an LFR on my alt paladin.

I think WoW is going to end two expansions after MoP, when players reach level 100 and Sargeras comes back to Azeroth only to reveal that the Titans are the ones who are going around wiping out other worlds. We will then team up with the Burning Legion to take down the pantheon of mighty Titans one by one in a raid very reminiscent of Ulduar (oh how I loved Ulduar). Once the last of the big guys have fallen, the players will then ascend to the position of Titans themselves, and this will lead into Blizzard's new MMO, Titan. Did I mention the Titans? Titan.

Daniel Whitcomb (@DanielWhitcomb) I'll have a busy weekend, so very little time to play, but I will probably fit in a little ME3 Multiplayer or Diablo 3 to relax. Oddly enough, both are betas, so it's likely I will be able to reuse this WRUP in a couple months, except to refer to the retail versions of said games.

World of Warcraft will end when the Reapers come and harvest Azeroth and Draenor.

Dawn Moore (@dawnwow) I've been playing League of Legends, WoW and SC2 recently, but this weekend I'm going to look for my first motorcycle. I'm not going to say this is FF7's fault, but it might have a hand in the matter.

WoW will end with the announcement of Warcraft 4, WoW 2, or both. I don't think Blizzard would give up something that makes them so much money, even with Titan on the way. When WoW ends it will be because there is somewhere to move all the existing subscribers. If they do a Warcraft 4 though, it will give them a way to quickly update the story of the world and allow a transition into a very different Azeroth in the new WoW. I'm going to guess that Sargeras will be involved in all of it.

Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen) (gplus.to/foxvanallen) Quality time with a jerkface who's too busy to reply to my WRUP emails, but not busy enough to waste time on Twitter complaining about them.

Joe Perez (@lodurjz) Just got into the DoTA2 beta, going to play around with that for a little bit and try it out with some friends. Playing in a League of Legends tournament on Saturday. Also, gearing up for some old school drake runs with friends and family over Real ID and with guildies. Should be an amazingly fun weekend.

Bonus: After an epic battle with Sargeras in the Nether, our heroes will strike the final blow on the dastardly villain only to discover that it's really not Sargeras but a giant cake! We will then all eat said cake, while we rejoice at a job well done.

Josh Myers (@Elamqt) I feel like my weekends are always more boring than my weeks, so I don't have much to say about that. As for the bonus question, WoW will eventually just succumb to Dragonball Z syndrome, with everyone eventually getting so powerful that the fights no longer make sense, and boss fights will end with us just hitting one button for the next three episodes to charge up a Spirit Bomb powerful enough to destroy Sargeras.

Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra) Want to get some art and alt leveling done this weekend. I'm kind of wiped out, so I'm just hoping for a quiet weekend in. How will WoW end? We all jump into Titan-built mechs, join into one giant mech via a totally sweet transformation sequence, then fight Sargeras, then when we think he's going to win we use the power of love and friendship to power up to our ultimate form and defeat him for good!

Lisa Poisso (@LisaPoisso) I've been leveling a new priest that I originally intended to level via Dungeon Finder, but between the gogo gang and the vote-kick addicts, I'm not enjoying it too much. I may spend the weekend rekitting her gear (but mostly her attitude) toward leveling via PvP. As for the end times for WoW - out with a whimper, I'm afraid, as the free-to-play home of very casual players who use it to keep in touch with far-flung relatives and friends.

Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo) I'm working on SECRET PROJECK for next month and also watching TV and playing World of Warcraft and such. World of Warcraft will end after a grand alliance of Horde and Alliance members strike Kil'jaeden down and live in a universe where the only evil is the Old Gods, a slow, corrupting evil that the universe is equipped to deal with. The Legion is dead, the pandaren have taught the leaders of the factions that we cannot survive through wanton destruction, and maybe, for once in their lives, the people of this generation of Azeroth's history can sit down and take a break for a minute..

Michael Gray (@writegray) This weekend I'll be taking some measurements, scouting power lines, and a few other prepatory things to do renovations before the Shieldling is here. I'm going to knock down a wall and expand our bedroom to make room for co-sleeping and the like. So, to kill time between acts of destruction, I'll probably hit up some more Warzones in an attempt to rile the player base.

Bonus: I don't think it'll end. I think WoW will get naturally folded into a next-gen game, sort of a WoW-2.

Olivia Grace (@oliviadgrace) Not a lot this weekend! Someone special is visiting from abroad ...

I think WoW will be banned mid-expansion by overenthusiastic politicians to assure the safety of children everywhere. Won't somebody think of the children?!

Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel) Saturday: Disneyland. Sunday: Rest from Disneyland. End of WoW: All games will become ractives, but WoW will plummet in popularity compared to all the naughty stories and murder mysteries.

The weekend is the perfect time to kick back, relax and enjoy some game time. Are you an achievement junkie? Can't get enough raiding? Rolling a new alt? Considering taking the leap into roleplaying? Whatever your favorite way to play World of Warcraft, let us know in the comments what you're playing this weekend!