Heroes of the Storm - Listing the Evidence

[Deleted]

Your final point doesn't make sense. They don't have a continuously updated 'meta trademark' for all of WoW.

World of Warcraft®
©2004 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. World of Warcraft, Warcraft and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

[Deleted]

Unless something has changed since you made the op I still don't see how any of this rules out any of blizzard's games. You'd want to cover your bases and you can make a mobile stats app for anything that tracks them. I'd assume a competitive anything would have stats recorded, or a character sheet, or whatever. Not saying it can't be WoW related of course, I'm just saying we don't actually have evidence to go on at all.

I don't think they'd mention a 'stats app' in the trademark, though. That's the thing. They didn't for the Armory and similar apps. It would have to be a feature of the game, such as Pet Battles gone mobile.

As far as we know, there is nothing for All-Stars which will be done through mobile. As in, a major feature. This is key.

Now, I'm not saying my evidence is conclusive, but I am saying it makes it reasonable to believe that HotS is for WoW, not All-Stars or Hearthstone.

That's all well and good, but it still doesn't change the fact that you're misinterpreting the trademark process, finding proof where there is none, and spreading misinformation. Are you ever going to address the Hearthstone issue or are you just going let it sit there as the elephant in the room?

*Edit*

I apologize if these are coming off as attacks, because that's not my intent.

Please remind me of the Hearthstone issue, and I'll address it.

I don't see any of this as misinformation. I see it as rational deductions based on the available information. It is, in my view, far more reasonable to believe HotS is for WoW than for Hearthstone or All-Stars.

The name fits.
The trademarking date fits.
The Goods and Services text fits.

World of Warcraft®
©2004 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. World of Warcraft, Warcraft and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

That's for Vanilla, i.e. the name World of Warcraft. It doesn't protect The Burning Crusade, etc. or cover its features.

[Gheld]

Heroes of the Storm doesn't yet appear on the Canadian trademark database (although it was last updated September 24th). I think this would be the most conclusive because you have to pay the 250 dollar fee at the time of the application in Canada. Making it 100% troll proof.

[Kelimbror]

Heroes of the Storm doesn't yet appear on the Canadian trademark database (although it was last updated September 24th). I think this would be the most conclusive because you have to pay the 250 dollar fee at the time of the application in Canada. Making it 100% troll proof.

You mean 'poor' troll proof. Trolling and money are not mutually exclusive. You have a point, but these threads are always ridiculous anyways. An OP claiming they've found a magical forumla that converts lead to gold...a page of people disproving his tin foil hattery...then pages of him defending his view as the only right one.

It's laughable at best. They can be fun when the OP isn't defensive and adamant that they alone hold the key. Alas, this thread is an example of the worst of them.

[Gheld]

You mean 'poor' troll proof. Trolling and money are not mutually exclusive. You have a point, but these threads are always ridiculous anyways. An OP claiming they've found a magical forumla that converts lead to gold...a page of people disproving his tin foil hattery...then pages of him defending his view as the only right one.

It's laughable at best. They can be fun when the OP isn't defensive and adamant that they alone hold the key. Alas, this thread is an example of the worst of them.

Well apparently people are calling the Heroes of The Storm trademark confirmed officially now. But it's quite a crapshoot as to when Blizzard decides to register trademarks in Canada.

They applied for the MoP trademark 8/22 2011. Which is over 2 weeks later than the US application.

http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-ci...tIndexOnPage=1

But
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-ci...IndexOnPage=11
They applied for the TM for World of Warcraft on August 31st 2001.

So anybody who followed the Canadian Trademark database avidly would have known about World of Warcraft almost a year before Warcraft 3 even came out.

EDIT: ^ If anything that shows just how long an R&D cycle Blizzard has. Chances are the next xpac was already storyboarded by the time burning crusade came out.

EDIT 2: Also, it appears that you can't search the canadian database via registrant name. So any applications that are under their registrant's name will be difficult to find.

[Kelimbror]

EDIT: ^ If anything that shows just how long an R&D cycle Blizzard has. Chances are the next xpac was already storyboarded by the time burning crusade came out.

I've heard whispers and some comments alluding to the fact that they are actively developing next xpac, while planning the one after, while we are currently in content.

Some things they have said directly, like knowing about WotLK when vanilla was out. Basically the thematic elements and concepts are already established. It's the particulars that they hammer out over time. TBC was probably 'finished' planning wise very soon after original WoW launched.

If you think about it, it has to be that way in any case. Voice actors, composer, cinematics team, quest designers...all these people need ample time for writing, recording, etc. We like to think that they can just whip these things up overnight, but it's a pretty involved process. One of the reasons intial MMO production lasts 5+ years and takes millions of dollars.

[CalasEU]

Frankly, I think you're over-analyzing a bit on the whole name thing. The whole "Heroes of the Storm" name seems very vague and doesn't give any implication as to what we could be doing. It's very unlike Blizzard to designate a name to an expansion, where the name doesn't give the least idea as to what the expansion is about. Compare this to the other expansion names:
"Wrath of the Lich King" The Lich King was implying his wrath upon us and we went to kill him
"Cataclysm" The Cataclysm was an event that happened as a direct consequence of Deathwing's uprising
"Mists of Pandaria" We went to Pandaria.

[Hitei]

Frankly, I think you're over-analyzing a bit on the whole name thing. The whole "Heroes of the Storm" name seems very vague and doesn't give any implication as to what we could be doing. It's very unlike Blizzard to designate a name to an expansion, where the name doesn't give the least idea as to what the expansion is about. Compare this to the other expansion names:
"Wrath of the Lich King" The Lich King was implying his wrath upon us and we went to kill him
"Cataclysm" The Cataclysm was an event that happened as a direct consequence of Deathwing's uprising
"Mists of Pandaria" We went to Pandaria.

Cataclysm was completely vague until you find out what the cataclysm was.
Storm is vague until you find out what the storm is and who the heroes are.

[Kelimbror]

Cataclysm was completely vague until you find out what the cataclysm was.
Storm is vague until you find out what the storm is and who the heroes are.

X-Men/WoW crossover.

Calling it now. All signs point to it. This is irrefutable and nothing anyone says can prove otherwise.

[Gheld]

I've heard whispers and some comments alluding to the fact that they are actively developing next xpac, while planning the one after, while we are currently in content.

Some things they have said directly, like knowing about WotLK when vanilla was out. Basically the thematic elements and concepts are already established. It's the particulars that they hammer out over time. TBC was probably 'finished' planning wise very soon after original WoW launched.

If you think about it, it has to be that way in any case. Voice actors, composer, cinematics team, quest designers...all these people need ample time for writing, recording, etc. We like to think that they can just whip these things up overnight, but it's a pretty involved process. One of the reasons intial MMO production lasts 5+ years and takes millions of dollars.

As I've always eluded to, Warcraft 3 probably started development simultaneously with World of Warcraft. Hence why the plotline of Warcraft 3 centers around establishing moral ambiguity for the Horde and establishing mutual villains with the alliance. The 2001 Trademark filing date in Canada is pretty damning evidence of my premise. :P

It was probably along the lines of "Hey, let's make Warcraft into an MMO". "Sure, and we can have some players be horde, some players be alliance, and they can fight each other." "But what if somebody wants to be Horde, and be a good guy?" "I know, let's make another Warcraft game where it turns out the horde was under a magical spell...no... demonic influence!" and that's probably where Warcraft 3 came from.

EDIT:^ Hence also why Thrall was "Hyper good" and the Alliance was full of morally ambiguous douchebags up until the end of Wrath of the Lich King. Because the Horde and Alliance had to be morally equalized.

[Grubjuice]

If this is the expansion name, I will be quitting WoW.

Being 100% sure it isn't means I ain't going to

but even if it were, don't you think quitting would be an over-reaction?

[Teebone]

What if they are planning on combining the speculated names?

"The Dark Storm"
-or-
"The Storm Below"

[Kelimbror]

What if they are planning on combining the speculated names?

"The Dark Storm"
-or-
"The Storm Below"

...and that would somehow lead them to file two completely different names that wouldn't protect the actual name they want? That's likely...

[OreosAreMyAbusiveBF]

Blizzard is really trying to ruin the series, I don't understand why. I started playing when Wotlk was the new and exciting expansion. I miss it!

[Cradix]

I don't think they'd mention a 'stats app' in the trademark, though. That's the thing. They didn't for the Armory and similar apps. It would have to be a feature of the game, such as Pet Battles gone mobile.

As far as we know, there is nothing for All-Stars which will be done through mobile. As in, a major feature. This is key.

Mobile Authenticator attached to Blizzard All-stars. That's what the stats app is for.

[ferrety]

Heroes of the Storm is showing on the Canadian TM site now, I'm certain it's a legit TM but I am skeptical it will be X5.

http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-ci...tIndexOnPage=1

But, didn't Blizzard All-Stars get canned? Also they are 1 month away from the X5 reveal so they have to have registered the trademark by now or risk it being stolen.

So unless there is another TM out there filed recently I guess this must be it.

[vickvinegar]

I just can't see blizzard making an xpac name sounding so close to Heart of the Swarm...

[Deleted]

Mobile Authenticator attached to Blizzard All-stars. That's what the stats app is for.

They don't mention that kind of apps in the trademark descriptions. This is the first time they've emphasised mobile and tablets, so it likely refers to a major feature of the game, or the entire game, being available as an app.

Since we know a MOBA wouldn't do well on small screens with poor user-input capabilities, we can draw the logical conclusion that HotS is either a new game, or Expansion 5. They do have pet battles.

[Hitei]

They don't mention that kind of apps in the trademark descriptions. This is the first time they've emphasised mobile and tablets, so it likely refers to a major feature of the game, or the entire game, being available as an app.

Since we know a MOBA wouldn't do well on small screens with poor user-input capabilities, we can draw the logical conclusion that HotS is either a new game, or Expansion 5. They do have pet battles.

*cough* Titan *cough*

[Deleted]

*cough* Titan *cough*

I wish. I'd be fine with that and the expansion.