World of Warcraft: Heroes of the Storm

[Deleted]

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

HEROES OF THE STORM

The debate has sort of ebbed out in recent days, and so I'm here to remind everyone about Heroes of the Storm and why it is likely the fifth expansion to World of Warcraft. This time in a sort of Q & A format, where I respond to all possible arguments and thoughts by asking them to myself.

"The Trademark might not even be legit!"

The Trademark is almost without a shred of doubt legit. It has been filed in at least 3 countries (New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S), and every time by official Blizzard lawyers who handle all of their trademarks. We've never seen a fake trademark show up on the American trademarking website under Blizzard Entertainment's list of trademarks before.

Besides, it is illegal and / or quite costly in at least one of those countries to be filing fake trademarks. It would take quite the dedication to go through with such a massive hoax.

"The name doesn't sound like a WoW expansion! In the past, they've all dealt with an awesome event (TBC, Cata), the emotions of the main antagonist (WotLK), or the mystery of a certain location (MoP). Heroes of the Storm doesn't follow the naming convention!"

Uh, well. Those are already three vastly different topics to base a name on. People were confused by Cataclysm before the leaks; ridiculed and doubted Mists of Pandaria before the announcement; and are unsurprisingly betting against Heroes of the Storm with all they've got. This is not an argument, it's just the fear of the unknown. Once there's an official announcement with real lore behind it, people will feel it makes sense.

"But 'Heroes' doesn't make sense. Who are they?"

Could be anyone from Turalyon, Alleria, and the rest of the Sons of Lothar, to us - the players. We know they are returning from the Twisting Nether in the next expansion, and I wouldn't say it's entirely implausible that they have a host of seasoned veterans with them either. Additionally, we've been showered in hints from important lore figures in the recent years, telling us that we have to put our petty strife behind us and become the Army of Light. The only defence against the Burning Legion. So while the name might in a more direct sense refer to the Sons of Lothar, it is definitely we who are the Heroes of the Storm. There is a storm coming, and we're the ones who will prevail in the havoc it brings.

"So what is the 'Storm', then?"

Considering all the hints pointing towards the Burning Legion returning, I'd say the storm is likely linked to them. There's always a sort of storm wherever they show up; infernals raining from the heavens, chaos, arcane storms from the Twisting Nether, and so on. The storm can also be an abstract word to signify the chaos itself; the ultimate war that we've been preparing for. Just like Mists was an abstract word to describe the mystery surrounding Pandaria, as well as a physical thing in the world.

I'd even go as far as to say that it isn't beyond reason to suspect that Jaina could become a bit of a tragic villain. She is, after all, one of the most powerful beings on Azeroth at the moment. She also has the Focusing Iris in a vault within Dalaran, one of the most powerful artefacts in existence. In the 5.4 ending trailer, she urges Varian to dismantle the Horde. This would, in effect, weaken the potential Army of Light.

Now, what other masterful sorcerer once played a key role in betraying the world? Medivh, who was possessed by Sargeras from birth, opened the Dark Portal. The 'storm' bit could therefore possibly also refer to a possessed Jaina Proudmore using the Focusing Iris to open up a portal within the Maelstrom (below which you'll find the Rift, and the Well of Eternity) to allow access for the Burning Legion. We know these wells can be used as gates, as you'll remember with Kil'Jaeden and the Sunwell.

Now, consider the trials of Emperor Shaohao and his people. He journeyed across Pandaria and buried six negative emotions: Doubt, Despair, Anger, Fear, Hatred, and Violence. Lastly, he covered all of Pandaria in the mist which was to protect it for ten thousand years. He became one with the land only when he learned that all who lived, lived in harmony. Everyone on Pandaria deserved the chance to survive the Sundering, so that they could learn for themselves.

Well, we've also just travelled across Pandaria, and gotten rid of our negative emotions. Last of all, we beat Pride; the one negative emotion which Shaohao kept, and which has been the force behind Garrosh and Varian's stubbornness and damned conflict. How did we do this? By submitting to the fact that we were all defeated by the war. We all had dire losses, and dismantling the Horde wouldn't change that. Thus, Varian allowed them to persist, and we are now ready for the coming storm.

What I'm saying is that there are a number of possible meanings for the word 'Storm' in the next WoW expansion.

"Heroes of the Storm sounds more like Blizzard All-Stars with a new name. Heroes referring to the Heroes from Blizzard games, and Storm referring to Blizzard itself - or an abstract location such as 'The Mists' where people do PvP in Guild Wars 2."

It's not an unlikely scenario. The name is, in fact, the only real argument for why Heroes of the Storm could possibly be a renamed Blizzard All-Stars. We know there was a court case a while back in which Blizzard tried to make claims on the DotA 2 title on Valve's new MOBA. They failed, and re-named Blizzard Dota to Blizzard All-Stars.

Since that name was brought in use fairly quickly, they might not have thought it through enough, and would perhaps like to disassociate themselves from that entire conflict by renaming it yet again.

So I will give this one point to all expansion doubters. Or half a point, actually. We're not sure Blizzard would want to do this, as it could be bad marketing and look unprofessional to continuously change a brand name. But half a point is yours!

"Blizzard trademarks things in strange and secret ways nowadays. With the secrecy surrounding Hearthstone, why would they put the next WoW expansion out in the open like that?"

I don't know. But in the same sense, why would they put the MOBA name out in the open like that? The WoW expansion is by far more important, and more difficult to rename than games such as Hearthstone or Blizzard All-Stars. Therefore, it is crucial to protect those big titles before potential leaks and so on. Imagine having to think of a new name for the expansion a week before Blizzcon!

"The Heroes of the Storm trademark description mentions mobile and tablet - you can't play WoW on that."

Nor can you play a MOBA on that. A MOBA is a serious e-sports game which requires precise user-input and a good overview of the battlefield, which you can't achieve with small touch-screens.

Therefore, the mobile bit of the trademark description is likelier to refer to a specific feature of a game, rather than a game as a whole.

All-Stars might have apps accompanying its release, such as scoreboards and some sort of hero viewer. But WoW has those things, and it has never mentioned mobile in the trademark description.

What WoW does have, however, which All-Stars probably doesn't, are things like Pet Battles. This system has been a huge success, and it wouldn't be surprising to see it brought over to mobile. Unlike statistics or hero-viewer apps, this is actually a major feature of World of Warcraft, and particularly of the expansion (if it is included, obviously). That makes it worthy of a trademark mention, because it is part of the product.

"It might be a Hearthstone DLC. The name Heroes of the Storm is similar to Hearthstone's subtitle Heroes of Warcraft."

No. First of all, it is much too soon to be discussing Hearthstone DLCs. More importantly, the trademark mentions physical discs - something the free to play downloadable game Hearthstone most definitely won't have.

"The trademark description is just like the one for Blizzard All-Stars."

No. There is no mention of mobile or tablets in the Blizzard All-Stars description. That was filed roughly 10 months ago - I hardly think they would re-invent the MOBA around mobile as well as change its name in a mere 10 months. Game development takes a huge amount of time, as shown by the fact that All-Stars still isn't out after all these years on the radar.

"You, sir, have convinced me. Heroes of the Storm is probably expansion 5 for World of Warcraft!"

Good, glad I could help.

(I reserve the right to edit or include arguments later on.)

[Castochi]

If the trademark is "World of Warcraft: Heroes of the Storm", it can't really be anything else other than the name for a WoW expansion or patch.

On the other hand, if the trademark is simply "Heroes of the Storm", it can be anything from the Blizzard DotA to a new franchise. Considering the reluctancy and care in which Blizzard stepped out of their comfort zone to make Hearthstone, albeit how good that game is, I doubt it will be a new franchise.

Most likely, though, it's yet another fake.

[Deleted]

If the trademark is "World of Warcraft: Heroes of the Storm", it can't really be anything else other than the name for a WoW expansion or patch.

On the other hand, if the trademark is simply "Heroes of the Storm", it can be anything from the Blizzard DotA to a new franchise. Considering the reluctancy and care in which Blizzard stepped out of their comfort zone to make Hearthstone, albeit how good that game is, I doubt it will be a new franchise.

Most likely, though, it's yet another fake.

I quote myself from the OP:

The Trademark is almost without a shred of doubt legit. It has been filed in at least 3 countries (New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S), and every time by official Blizzard lawyers who handle all of their trademarks. We've never seen a fake trademark show up on the American trademarking website under Blizzard Entertainment's list of trademarks before.

Besides, it is illegal and / or quite costly in at least one of those countries to be filing fake trademarks. It would take quite the dedication to go through with such a massive hoax.

[Monteverdi]

You didn't put Hearthstone as an option, but I'm guessing it's the first expansion for hearthstone which I'm assuming will be out sometime next year.

[Shampro]

I know you REALLY REALLY like to come up with speculation and stuff, but we have to literally wait 1 month, just wait :P

[Gheld]

Aww. You incorporated the results of my Canadian trademark research into your post. So flattering.

And when you put it all together like that

"World of Warcraft: Heroes of the Storm" it actually looks pretty badass. So I'd welcome it .

[Skorpionss]

You didn't put Hearthstone as an option, but I'm guessing it's the first expansion for hearthstone which I'm assuming will be out sometime next year.

Hearthstone isn't even out yet. How would it already have a dlc when it's not even out? Try to use that thing inside your head called a brain, it helps.

Another argument for why it can be WoW Expac: Blizz trademarks wow expacs exactly 7 weeks before the Blizzcon they are announced at. Heroes of the Storm was trademarked exactly 7 weeks before Blizzcon 2013.

[Weischbier]

I like speculations.
I learned more about lore with speculation threads than reading it up

[Soisoisoi]

You put "World of Warcraft: Heroes of the Storm", and in the WoW forums, but in the poll put different franchise or other games. It doesn't make sense to have bias titles and threads. Especially when, afaik, we don't have confirmation of what it's for - hence this thread.

On-topic: It doesn't sound like a WoW expansion to me, it sounds more like Hearthstone or a different game. At most if it was to do with WoW I'd say it could be something like a mini-patch kind of like 5.1 - but not a raid content one.

[Deleted]

Ever considered they trademarked it to function as a diversion? They know how crafty we are.

[Skalm]

Now, consider the trials of Emperor Shaohao and his people. He journeyed across Pandaria and buried six negative emotions: Doubt, Despair, Anger, Fear, Hatred, and Violence. Lastly, he rid himself of Pride, covering all of Pandaria in the mist which was to protect it for ten thousand years. He became one with the land only when he learned that all who lived, lived in harmony. Everyone on Pandaria deserved the chance to survive the Sundering, so that they could learn for themselves.

Fairly certain that he DID NOT rid himself of the Sha of Pride, which led him to cover Pandaria in the mist. It was his Pride which made him believe they were better than anyone else.....and thus he hid Pandaria.

Might wanna fix that part of your write-up.

[Paula Deen]

"It can't be faked it was filed in multiple countries"

MEANWHILE

"Dark Below filed in multiple countries, come on guys its a fake"

[Deleted]

If Blizzard wants WoW subscription numbers up, they better name the expansion:

"World of Warcraft: Illidan vs Arthas pwnage 2"

or

"World of Warcraft: Arthas, Illidan and Sargeras walk into an Old God bar"

Subs up to 15 million.

[Gheld]

Ever considered they trademarked it to function as a diversion? They know how crafty we are.

Most countries have laws against holding trademarks if you don't intend to use them. It's possible though that it is an official title for Blizzard Allstars though. Since Blizzard All stars isn't tmed. So it would need an official title still.

But they would still have to tm the official title for the WoW xpac within the next couple of weeks. So I'll check the Canadian tm database again on Monday.

[Skorpionss]

"It can't be faked it was filed in multiple countries"

MEANWHILE

"Dark Below filed in multiple countries, come on guys its a fake"

Except Dark Below was never filed, it was just a filled out application.

[Deleted]

You didn't put Hearthstone as an option, but I'm guessing it's the first expansion for hearthstone which I'm assuming will be out sometime next year.

I explained why in one of the arguments. There's not a chance that it's Hearthstone.

Fairly certain that he DID NOT rid himself of the Sha of Pride, which led him to cover Pandaria in the mist. It was his Pride which made him believe they were better than anyone else.....and thus he hid Pandaria.

Might wanna fix that part of your write-up.

I must have misread an article on the Wowpedia. Thanks for pointing that error out!

"It can't be faked it was filed in multiple countries"

MEANWHILE

"Dark Below filed in multiple countries, come on guys its a fake"

Dark Below never showed up on the U.S listings under Blizzard Entertainment. Only legit trademarks have ever done so, and Heroes of the Storm is there for all to behold in all its glory.

[Mister K]

Sounds too much like another branch instead of WoW expansion, or could be the pirate expansion? :P Id much rather see Blizzard AllStars.

[Aaros]

And Mists could very well have been the calm before the "Storm".

You make a pretty solid case. I'm convinced and pumped, now.

[lokinrond713]

Good, glad I could help.

(I reserve the right to edit or include arguments later on.)[/QUOTE]

well u just put your foot in your mouth and showed how very very straw ur argument was.

[Skorpionss]

Dunno man...so "storm" links to the Burning Legion? Hell..a cooler x-pac title would be sth that actually HAS the words "Burning Legion" in them.

that would be too obvious tbh :P this way there is still mistery surrounding the name, is it legion? is it something with azshara ? is it both? who can tell:P