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!

Today is my birthday. And no one noticed.

You see, a new expansion for World of Warcraft came out this week, and everyone's so busy playing that they forgot about me. Heck, even I'm too busy playing.

Tonight, it's going to be just me and my laptop. And cake. I'm going to eat it while sitting on a table. (That's just how I eat cake.) Oh, if only someone would join me on the table for a slice, and ... no, no, who am I kidding. I won't be coming of age tonight. That's a one-in-a-million shot. And certainly not with some exotic lycanthrope. One-in-a-trillion, at least!

Honestly, though, even if Jake Ryan himself shows up at my door, I just don't have the time for him. The true star of this weekend is Cataclysm, hands down. It's the expansion's innaugural weekend.

Even though we're pretty sure we already know the answer, we still have to ask: "What are you playing?" (This is WRUP. Asking the question is what we do.) To make things a little bit interesting, though, we're throwing in a bonus question: "What level are you?"

Allison Robert (@AllisonRobert): Regrettably, probably not much play time this weekend. I've got a family obligation on Sunday and have to catch up on a lot of writing. With any luck, I'll get more 5-man time with a few friends. As for the Cataclysm release, I'll be doing the digital download.

Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey): I'm going to be leveling Archaeology and Engineering as well as completing the zones I haven't finished yet, and maybe playing the goblin a little. ...I'm 85. I was 85 on the 7th. Yes, yes I am slightly insane.

Basil Berntsen (@outdps): ... hopefully Cataclysm. I have 3 toons that need to hit 84 to unlock recipes in Twilight Highlands (which sucks). Currently they're ... 81, 80, and 80 \facepalm

Chase Christian (@madsushi): I will be playing a lot of WoW, definitely more than I've played in the past couple of months. My holy paladin finally hit level 84, so I'll be leaning into the final grind to 85 on her soon. My rogue is going to be leveled second since I already leveled him once on the beta, and since I can quest much faster as a DPS spec.

Colby Moore (@TheArenaGuy): Still 80. Exams are awesome. I haven't played one minute of Cataclysm yet...unfortunately. That will change some time next week.

Daniel Whitcomb (@danielwhitcomb): Alas, I am only level 81. Real Life has kept me away from Cataclysm more than I'd like. That said, I hope to remedy that this weekend. I want to at least finish off Deepholm.

Dan O'Halloran: It's going to be hard to decide which toon I'm going to play: my balance druid main at 80; my new 35 dwarf enhancement shaman; or my very, very new worgen rogue. Probably a little on each. I enjoy leveling and am going to take my time with each. Bonus question: see above.

Elizabeth Wachowski (@leeatwaterlives): Workin' and WoW. I'll be leveling up my new druid and hunter alts. For the bonus question, they're 34 and 21 respectively -- I haven't leveled my main paladin at all.

Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen): My friend Darien's birthday was Wednesday, my roommate DJ's birthday was Thursday, and my birthday is today (Saturday). We're throwing our third annual combined birthday party tonight (Superbirthday 3: Superbirthday with a Vengeance), which will almost assuredly be more fun than Cataclysm-ing. On Sunday, I'll clean up all the spilled Four Loko and smears of cake frosting. If there's any time left ... I'm going to finish outfitting my level 85 shadow priest with 346 blues so I can run a raid or two before the week's server reset.

Gregg Reece (@undeadfish): I hope to do some more playing this weekend. The last couple days have been eating my brain doing other things. However, I've gotten up to 83 in the couple days I've played. With any luck, I'll sneak up close to 85 by the end of the weekend.

Joe Perez (@Lodurzj): Recovering from throwing out my back, running chain heroics and getting ready to jump back into raiding. Also, leveling my worgen druid and worgen hunter. Bonus question: Ding! 85!

Josh Myers (@elamqt): My weekend will be dominated by heroic grinding, and gearing up to start raiding next week. I'm disgustingly excited for the chance to actually use hex and bind elemental in a pve environment. I'm halfway through 83 at the moment, should be 85 before the weekend proper hits.

Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra): WoW! Been busy all week, so I can now finally choose between the baby goblin warrior, the baby tauren pally, or Cadistra, my main. Guess we'll see! As for the bonus: 1, 14, and 80.

Lisa Poisso (@emused): No WoW for me this weekend; I'll be on the road. Bonus question: As of Thursday morning, 16!

Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo): Heroics. Lots of heroics.

Matt Low (@matticus): Playing Cataclysm. Already started grinding into heroics. That is some seriously tough stuff. That ilevel 330 requirement really is the lowest you can go in with. Healing's a heart race right now and there is a ridiculous number of players out there on the dungeon finder who have not really understood the concept of utilizing crowd control. Use your crowd control or else your healer's going to have a heart attack, thanks. Bonus: I hit level 85 after 21-ish hours.

Matt Rossi: I'm working on the warrior I chose to level to 85 first after spending my birthday not doing anything WoW at all. I'm almost 82 as I type this, so probably 83/84 by the time it prints - levels go fast. After this, the Worgen gets leveled. I intend to have three 85 warriors by the end of December.

Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel): I will be napping off this cough, hopefully, as well as spending a day crafting holiday gifts with crafty friends. But all other spare time will be spent playing my goblins, starting a worgen or two, leveling my 80 tauren druid, etc. For the bonus question, can I add up all the levels I'm getting on all my alts?

Sarah Nichol (@mentalshaman): Turning my house inside out as we put all my books into storage. Otherwise I'll be bring my shaman up to 85. Bonus: Resting up at Aessina's shrine after hitting level 83.

Zach Yonzon (@battlemasters): Not much time to play Cataclysm between work and having to play host to my Japanese cousins visiting for the holidays. But I've managed to sneak my way to 82 on my undead hunter.

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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!

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Tags: what-are-you-playing, wrup