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!

On Thursday, Blizzard uploaded a curious new picture to its Facebook page. It's called "Glimpses," and it shows three ethereals in a building that looks identical to Cordell's Enchanting in Stormwind. But a glimpse of what? Patch 4.3? The next expansion?

The picture set off a flurry of speculation. One intrepid soul decided to treat the names as anagrams, converting Vaultkeeper Razhid to "hide a true leak," with "remaining letters ZPRV." I tried playing around with the letters myself, and all I can seem to make out of it is "Bill is The Mole." What do you think that means?

Of course, a lot of people out there are wondering whether or not ethereals will play a major part in the next expansion. So, in addition to the "What aRe yoU Playing" question, this week, we asked our columnists a very simple followup question:



Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) (gplus.to/adamholisky) Ethereals all the way. I've almost bought the Ethereal TCG pet a dozen times, and I'd love to play one, if they ever make it a race. This weekend I'll be messing around in Rift for a while, as well as reviewing some material for my flight training.

Anne Stickney (@shadesogrey) I have relatives coming in this weekend, so most of my time will be spent entertaining, cooking and the like. Also I'm going to work on designing a bookshelf for my room, as I'm tired of the majority of my books being in the attic. As for Pandaren vs. Ethereal -- I don't really care one way or another. What I'm really hoping is Mister Void Storage is additional banking. Like, a lot of additional banking. Oh man, please please please, I need more bank space, pleeeeeze.

Daniel Whitcomb (@danielwhitcomb) (gplus.to/danielwhitcomb) Incredibly busy IRL this weekend, but I do want to try to get the Sethria's Roost rare spawns killed. Once I have those, I will have my Flamebreaker title and thus be done with Molten Front forever. If given the chance, I will play Ethereals all the way. I'll even race change my death knight. The only race I'd want to play more would be Alliance high elves. That said, I doubt Ethereals will be playable. That screenshot is probably some patch 4.3 features being introduced via Consortium merchants, who will offer it to both factions. To which I say, about time. Ethereals were too cool to stay in the BC era (Wrath cameo aside).

Elizabeth Wachowski (@leeatwaterlives) I just picked up Shadows of the Damned, so I'll have to give that a try. Otherwise, leveling my druid. I really need her to get into Cata content because she now does all my mining and herbalism, so my 85s are dependent on her for their professions.

Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen) (gplus.to/foxvanallen) A certain snot-nosed boomkin invited me to his friend's "birthday bowling party," which suggests his friend may be turning 12 today. I dunno. Aside from bowling, I'll also be spending a chunk of this weekend playing my new Nintendo 3DS. (I drove out to Framingham on Tuesday to get it -- Walmart did an early price drop.) Zelda: Ocarina of Time looks absolutely gorgeous on the 3DS. They did an amazing job on the remake.

If I had to pick between pandaren and ethereals, it'd be hard. Still, I think a lot about WoW story lines have gotten stale, and I'd much rather the next expansion center around Magical Panda Zone rather than Netherstorm.

Joe Perez (@Lodurzj) More alt leveling in WoW, getting ready for LoL: Dominion, which looks like it's going to be a ton of fun, learning how to jungle with Skarner, and eagerly awaiting Deus Ex: Human Revolution! Also gearing up for another awesome week of podcasting with Raid Warning and For The Lore.

As far as Pandaren vs. Ethereal, I don't care what faction they wind up as, but Pandaren make me incredibly happy. It's possibly the only race I would ever consider making Lodur besides dwarven.
Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra) Art, packing, and starting my new job! I'm so close to the Flamebreaker title I can taste it! I just need two specific elemental lieutenants to spawn ... Also, to quote my guild leader: "Kung Fu pandas or space mummies?" I'm finding the ethereals to be a little ... ah ... pulled out of nowhere, if you know what I mean.

Mat McCurley (@gomatgo) (gplus.to/gomatgo) League of Legends mad push to 30 to start ranked games. Ethereals as playable is weird. Pandas make more sense to me.

Matt Low (@matticus) I am starting to enter the world of competitive world of League of Legends. Really excited for the new Dominion game mode. The new Deus Ex is coming out soon and I can't wait for that game, either!
Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel) (gplus.to/cosmiclaurel) I will be entertaining The Spawn as usual with games of Uno, Spite and Malice and Super Hero Squad when indoors. After bedtime, it's Firelands Dailies with The Spousal Unit, and then I'll probably be fiddling around in the beta I got into. If these end up being our new race choices (which I don't think they will be at all), then the picture shows that Ethereal are Alliance -- so I'd have to go Pandaren. For the Horde! Seriously though, I think the void storage will be for cross-server transfers and the Transmogrification will be for pet changes or in-game plastic surgery. The "mogrification" part implies a creature, not gear. Regardless of what they turn out to be, added features = yay!

Tyler Caraway (@murmursofadruid) Playing with my Fox Van Allen action figures!

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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: ethereal, mists-of-pandaria, next-expansion, pandaren, patch-4.3, patch-4.3-predictions, patch-5.0, patch-5.0.1, what-are-you-playing, wow-patch-5.1, wrup, yo-bill-imma-let-you-finish-but-kathryn-was-the-best-mole-of-all

Filed under: WoW Insider Business