Currently playing: Stuff
YouTube|Hearthstone Decks|Twitter|MyAnimeList
Legacy of the Void is what you're thinking of, and that is real. It's an expansion/campaign for Starcraft 2. So that point doesn't really stand.
As for the rest, sure, faking something is easy as people have pointed out. However, those fakes are pretty terrible, as others pointed out, considering the lack of consistency with the other Blizzard filed trademarks. The only 'fake' that actually fits with other trademarks is The Dark Below.
Based on your avatar, I can infer that you probably have more trust in the government than you should.
But anyway, The Dark Below just sounds like a horrible name for an expansion or any product for that matter, and I thought that before I found out it might be a fake. Blizz would be stupid to title an expansion "World of Warcraft: The Dark Below"
Did you even read the MMOC article? It was said that people can apply for a trademark under Blizzard's name, so we don't even know if legit Blizzard applied for The Dark Below, or some hoaxer.
Although people can apply for a trademark under Blizzard's name doesn't mean that they should, especially if they're using Blizz's attorney's name and signature. Using an attorney's name/bar number is a pretty big deal, especially if malpractice comes out of its use and ends up causing said attorney trouble with their bar. I would think Blizzard would clamp down on a hoax like this pretty quick instead of perpetuating it by making additional false trademark applications.
- - - Updated - - -
It doesn't matter. If I were the attorney, I'd be pretty freaking upset that someone was even filling out apps with my name and signature. That's not something to screw around with at all.
The issue is that if they did do this, Blizzard would damn well have clamped down on it rather than let this speculation go wild. We're talking using a lawyer's name and bar number. That's serious shit. If Blizzard's legal team were in any way competent, they would've shut this rumor down the minute it was leaked so they could investigate the issue. That didn't happen, on the contrary, Blizzard decided to play along, which makes absolutely no logical sense.
Can someone tell me why someone would use the title " The Dark Below" to prank the WoW user base?
I mean if you want to prank someone, you would entitle it something more obvious, and more legion-based. You wouldn't use an obscure WoW reference that most people had never heard of.
Even at the height of all of this, most people STILL didn't believe it was the next expansion.
Because people are expecting the legion. Going for The Dark Below as a fake expansion name could incite flame wars between people wanting different things. Legion's too easy to aim for. Not saying it is or isn't a hoax, I have no idea, but I could see why someone would go for it.
No, I know exactly what Legacy of the Void is. Vengeance of the Void was a bogus leak about the next expansion at the time returning to Outland and A'dal going evil. The "news" was broken by MMOwned.com and everyone ate it up because it was a faked document using Activision Blizzard's letterhead.
Here is a link with all the bogus docs.
The point here is that maybe the whole "The Dark Below" trademark app is legit or maybe it isn't. The doubt is reasonable enough to go either way since the "Corgis Unleashed" app pretty much showed how documents can be faked and cast doubt on the authenticity of the first announcement but the possibility remains that this could be a red herring thrown out for damage control. Nobody will know for sure until Blizzard decides to make an announcement on it.
Last edited by Nero Duskwind; 2013-08-15 at 03:46 AM.
I'm not super happy about TDB instead of a legion expansion, but honestly...
This entire thing really does feel a LOT like what happened with the Worgen/Goblin masks and subsequent cover-up attempts.
So while it certainly could easily be a hoax, for now I'm going to stick with the probably real side.
The Dark Below is a very, very solid name for an Expansion, unlike the majority of fan suggestions which are usually generic and obvious like "Rise of the Legion" (no offense Ro9ue)