Why don't you guys believe The Dark Below was a real trademark anymore?

[Chudah]

There was a timeskip between Wrath and Cata and probably the others too.

I'm pretty sure both of those gaps were covered in the novels.

[Sal the Shieldhog]

There was a timeskip between Wrath and Cata and probably the others too.

There is not. Those "timeskips" are the expansion's actual events. For example, the 1 year between Wrath and Cata? That was the War on Northrend. The entirety of Wrath was 1 year, from it's start to finish, and then the pre-patch happened (all the cults and elemental invasions), and then finally the Cataclysm actually occurred.

[chrisisvacant]

I honestly can't see Blizzard hyping up a patch that doesn't have a raid or pre-expansion event. That'd be a major letdown for most of the playerbase, I would think. Just look at 5.3, "Escalation". That didn't even have a trailer, and when it hit people blew through all of the content in a week, it all seemed pretty unimpressive. I don't know if they want to go that route again, and worse yet, give it a trailer.

It's useless trying to predict the content of a patch when all you have to allegedly go by is a screencap of the logo. We have absolutely no idea what the patch after 5.4 will contain and the blues have been absolutely secretive about it barring them suggesting there won't be a raid.

[Chudah]

It's useless trying to predict the content of a patch when all you have to allegedly go by is a screencap of the logo. We have absolutely no idea what the patch after 5.4 will contain and the blues have been absolutely secretive about it barring them suggesting there won't be a raid.

Oh I agree. I just don't buy into this Skysunder leak.

[Teriz]

As I've pointed out once before, the new content-lore-content-lore-content-lore patch system means that we SHOULD see a 5.5 that is a major lore patch and advances the story to connect 5.4 and 6.0, like Landfall connected 5.0 and 5.2 and ToT did the same between throne and Siege.

Because otherwise, you're left with say, six months of siege, and then all of the sudden the Horde has recovered quite a bit, the new war chief is up and running and the legion drops in out of nowhere (or whatever 6.0 ends up being) It makes a lot more sense to ease that transition by having the recovering horde, new warchief, and first large signs of legion/naga/corgi invasion in 5.0 and then the full on invasion event in 6.0 before the expansion launches.

Or 5.5 just deals with the aftermath of the seige, which would be an episode full of lore. 6.0 is when the green fireballs would start dropping from the sky. That would be the pre-expansion event. Just like the cataclysm, and just like the echoes of doom.

- - - Updated - - -

Were you not around for Ruby Sanctum? This raid introduced a new kind of dragon specifically created for the Hour of Twilight.

That was a raid, and it was part of Patch 3.3. You're talking about am entire patch dedicated to an expansion-level event in the expansion BEFORE the actual events take place.

So what happens in 6.0 during pre-expansion? Do we sit back and admire the giant craters everywhere?

[Ceethemage]

Give us some examples of these epilogue patches so that we can compare.

Just FYI, the legion raining green fireballs down upon Azeroth is not an epilogue.

2.4 was implimented because 2.3 and the black temple wasn't enough. They added 2.4 to buy time and was an after thought.

[Trialtm]

2.4 was implimented because 2.3 and the black temple wasn't enough. They added 2.4 to buy time and was an after thought.

What do u mean, after thought?

[Teriz]

2.4 was implimented because 2.3 and the black temple wasn't enough. They added 2.4 to buy time and was an after thought.

Yes, but 2.4 still dealt with lore from TBC. Using Chris' argument, 2.4 would have been when the Lich King began attacking the cities with random ghouls like what happened in 3.0.

[Hitei]

Or 5.5 just deals with the aftermath of the seige, which would be an episode full of lore. 6.0 is when the green fireballs would start dropping from the sky. That would be the pre-expansion event. Just like the cataclysm, and just like the echoes of doom.

So what happens in 6.0 during pre-expansion? Do we sit back and admire the giant craters everywhere?

Is there a reason it can't be both?

What if 5.5, just after the dust settles, the sky literally rends and there is just a massive tear in the sky of Azeroth opening directly to the twisting nether, and assorted demons and magic pewpew lightning and fireballs hurtle downwards. And the Alliance and Horde investigate, research, deal with the small-fry demons who are coming through (wild imps, felhunters, and other lesser demons), prepare and reinforce cities, build weapons of war, etc, etc--while dealing with the aftermath of siege.

And then 6.0 the tear opens wide and a fullscale legion invasion descends onto Azeroth with dreadlords, eredar, pitlords, wrathguards, and so on, as well as floating, Naaru-like assault ships and 6.0 deals with fighting them, and putting an end to the invasion. With the expansion launch being us pushing forward through the tear to take the fight to the legion.

[dirtside]

I'm only gonna say this once.

Back in 2011, Blizzard registered a trademark with the USPTO for "Mists of Pandaria." When the news came out -- on about August 2, 2011 -- you could at that very moment go to the USPTO website and do a trademark search for "MISTS OF PANDARIA" and it would come up as a LIVE TRADEMARK. Not an application -- an actual, existing, REAL, live trademark, in TESS, the USPTO's database of actual trademarks.

If you search TESS for "The Dark Below", there are NO RESULTS. If you search by company name ("Blizzard Entertainment") it comes up with over 100, and none of them are "The Dark Below."

There is a difference between the APPLICATION and the ACTUAL TRADEMARK. All these "teas.uspto.gov" links are to the APPLICATIONS, which anyone can create for free and don't mean ANYTHING. TEAS stands for "Trademark Electronic APPLICATION System". TESS stands for "Trademark Electronic SEARCH System." TEAS is for looking at applications; TESS is for looking at actual trademarks.

To check:

1. Go to uspto.gov
2. Mouseover "TRADEMARKS" in the top nav
3. Click on "Trademark Search"
4. Click on "Basic Word Mark Search (New User)"
5. Type "DARK BELOW" (no quotes) into the "Search Term" field. (Or "THE DARK BELOW" if you prefer.)
6. Hit enter.
7. See that the only result that comes up is a mark that happens to contain both "dark" and "below" in the (lengthy) description. If you select "exact search phrase" from the search form, it finds NO RESULTS for either "DARK BELOW" or "THE DARK BELOW".

Now, all this proves is that there are currently no trademarks for the term "DARK BELOW". It does not prove that "DARK BELOW" isn't the name of the next expansion. However, as of right now there is NO reliable evidence that I know of that "THE DARK BELOW" is the name of the next expansion.

[Teriz]

Is there a reason it can't be both?
.

Yes, because if that scenario is to be believed, then 5.5 is the actual beginning of the next expansion. And MoP gets its storyline hijacked in its own expansion.

Blizzard wouldn't end an expansion in that fashion.

[Hitei]

Yes, because if that scenario is to be believed, then 5.5 is the actual beginning of the next expansion.

Blizzard wouldn't end an expansion in that fashion.

Why? Because they've never done it before?

They've also never had large lore-focused, world-changing patches inbetween content raid patches.
And they've also never completely altered a zone in a content patch to reflect evolving story, like they did with the Vale of Eternal Sorrows.

[Issalice]

Personally I don't think the corgi's or thrall vs. illidan trademarking means much about the dark below filing. The other two could have been filed to shut up the speculation, or all three could be false. Who knows.

[Ceethemage]

What do u mean, after thought?

It wasn't suppose to be put in game but they needed to add something extra for time because WOTLK and 3.0 was not ready for release. There was never suppose to be a patch 2.4 but due to delays they added it and also added the ability to add to it in the event WOTLK got delayed again.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, but 2.4 still dealt with lore from TBC. Using Chris' argument, 2.4 would have been when the Lich King began attacking the cities with random ghouls like what happened in 3.0.

Yeah and we were too busy on the plateau to do anything... Yes I know it was part of the lore with TBC but it was only placed in the game to buy time.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, because if that scenario is to be believed, then 5.5 is the actual beginning of the next expansion. And MoP gets its storyline hijacked in its own expansion.

Blizzard wouldn't end an expansion in that fashion.

No there isn't anyway Blizzard would end it like that

[Teriz]

Why? Because they've never done it before?

No, because Blizzard wouldn't have the new expansion begin while in the previous expansion's storyline.

Which btw further proves that this is a hoax. It just smacks of a legion fanboy wanting MoP to be over with as quickly as possible. He wants the Legion storyline to start so badly, that he has the legion expansion starting before MoP is even finished.

[dirtside]

Also keep in mind that ever since Wrath, Blizz has filed an actual live trademark in July or August of the year before the expansion comes out, and someone typically notices it within a week or two (in the actual TESS database I mentioned above). This happened with Wrath, Cata, and Mists, like clockwork. It might work out differently this time but there's no reason to suppose otherwise; Blizzard will register the trademark once they're sure it's final, and then someone will notice it within a few days, and then there'll be articles about it, just like in 2011, 2009, and 2007.

The upshot here is that MMO Champion's editors have learned not to trust TEAS entries, and will always look at TESS entries in the future.

[apepi]

Maybe it is the opposite? The Dark Below was made to think Corgis Unleashed was never real, genius I tell you!

Also keep in mind that ever since Wrath, Blizz has filed an actual live trademark in July or August of the year before the expansion comes out, and someone typically notices it within a week or two (in the actual TESS database I mentioned above). This happened with Wrath, Cata, and Mists, like clockwork. It might work out differently this time but there's no reason to suppose otherwise; Blizzard will register the trademark once they're sure it's final, and then someone will notice it within a few days, and then there'll be articles about it, just like in 2011, 2009, and 2007.

The upshot here is that MMO Champion's editors have learned not to trust TEAS entries, and will always look at TESS entries in the future.

You can easily go and search the website and see what patents Blizzard has in their names, it is not hard. Some people just listen to whatever people tell you...

[Hitei]

No, because Blizzard wouldn't have the new expansion begin while in the previous expansion's storyline.

Which btw further proves that this is a hoax. It just smacks of a legion fanboy wanting MoP to be over with as quickly as possible. He wants the Legion storyline to start so badly, that he has the legion expansion starting before MoP is even finished.

There really isn't a reason to NOT intertwine the two storylines. Wow is a continuous narrative, they've been trying to move closer and closer to a smoothly evolving story every expansion.

[Mican17]

You guys are bored and gullible.

[Trialtm]