How to spot fake leaks

[Wilfire]

Red flag 1: too many "key characters"
Blizzard, as a rule, does not aim to stuff x-packs full of characters that ought to be there. Wrathion did not play a role in Legion despite being heavily involved with preparations for the third invasion in MoP. Odyn does not play role in BfA despite it being his direct duty to protect Azeroth. Do not expect the next expansion to have the same cast as BfA. At best Sylvanas will play a major to minor role while the rest of BfA characters will be relegated to being supporting cast. The main cast will predominantly be completely new faces or older characters with a facelift (see: revamped Saurfang and Nathanos in BfA, revamped Illidan in Legion etc.)

Red flag 2: the story is too detailed
When a new x-pack is revealed, the story is still in the storyboarding phase. At best you will get a premise but that's it. So a realistic story leak would look more like "Sylvanas has opened a rift into the Shadowlands" rather than "Sylvanas has opened a rift into the Shadowlands using Xal'atath with N'Zoth trapped inside in order to complete her bargain with Helya which somehow ties into the burning of Teldrassil, the Lich King, Bwonsamdi's boss, Anduin, Il'gynoth's whispers and God knows what else".

Red flag 3: the name is lame
C'mon, Blizzard actually has professionals working on this stuff. "Sisters of Sorrow" sounds like complete ass and is not catchy at all. As a rule, consider this: does the name of the x-pack make sense to non-WoW players? Is it likely to entice them to try WoW? If the answer is no, the leak is fake. Exception: Mists of Pandaria (Pandaria only makes sense to WoW players but since it's a derivative of "panda", it was easy for non-WoW players to infer the theme of the x-pack).

Red flag 4: it's vague / riddle-y
Looking at you, Chinese "leaks". If a leak can be retroactively interpreted to fit several things, it's as fake as fake gets.

Red flag 5: the features are too detailed
No, Blizzard hasn't decided what kind of ilvl the newest x-pack feature will reward. Neither have they decided on 10 new allied races in advance. Compare: "a new feature will be artifacts with progression systems reminiscent of talent trees" vs. "a new feature will be <generic artifact x> which will... <detailed breakdown of how exactly the new feature will work including full lists of class traits / abilities>".

Red flag 6: it reeks of fanfiction
NO. HIGH ELVES WILL NOT BE THE NEW ALLIED RACE. TINKERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW CLASS. THE NEW EXPANSION WILL NOT BE INSPIRED BY VANILLA.

Red flag 7: the leaker does not sound convincing
If you have to justify your leak and explain why / how it makes sense, why not come up with a more convincing leak in the first place?

Feel free to add your own red flags

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Point 6 is entirely subjective because I can say Tinker will be the new class. A better way to term it is "If it sounds like everything you ever wanted, it's probably fake."

[lostsoup]

C'mon, Blizzard actually has professionals working on this stuff.

"Legion"

But yeah, there are good guidelines to follow. In general it's a good idea to just don't trust any leak no matter how credible they seem.

I'd like to add that many fake leaks are just a list of buzz words that appeal to the community. "AP and WF/TF removed! Classes reworked/class design heavily improved! Talent trees are coming back on top of the current!" etc. Blizzard always kinda just does their own thing in new expacs for better or worse. Though this does somewhat fall on "it reeks of fanfiction" I guess.

[XDurionX]

How to spot fake leaks:

Look at leaks.

[Wrath of the Bolvar]

Red flag 6: it reeks of fanfiction
NO. HIGH ELVES WILL NOT BE THE NEW ALLIED RACE. TINKERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW CLASS. THE NEW EXPANSION WILL NOT BE INSPIRED BY VANILLA.

I remember when people said NO WE WILL NOT HAVE A DEMON HUNTER CLASS, WE ALREADY HAVE WARLOCKS

Or NO BLIZZARD WILL NOT ADD PANDAREN TO THE GAME, THEY ARE A JOKE RACE

Or my absolute favourite, after Diablo 3 was announced, "great, now that D3 gets Monk and Demon Hunter, there is no way they are gonna add them in WoW".

[Frood]

Checking whether the <expansionname>.com or wow<expansion abbreviation>.com domain is registered but showing a blank page is another surefire way to test a leak. Typically these domains are registered by Blizzard ~2 years before the expansion's announcement.

[tripleh]

Also hard to believe a poster that just has 1 post. Those that have actually leaked out stuff before on there original poster would be more convincing. The diablo leak doesn't seem like a leak, but was intended just to get fans hyped and restore some faith after what happened last year.

[matrix123mko]

TINKERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW CLASS.

I will laugh next week.

[Jalham]

Too much information about the expansion in general.
Generally leaks so far have always been a couple of simple lines and not complete novels of information and details.
example: the legion leak was like 4 points or something with simple lines like demon hunter class without going into details.

[Adoxe]

Imagine thinking Tinkers won't be real at some point in the future even if its not next expac.

[DiscipleofCazicThule]

Number 7 is especially good. There's a couple "leaks" out there where the person leaking it is fighting people trying to convince people it's good. If the person is arguing that a stranger's leak is legit, then it's not.

[Mirishka]

Can't wait for Blizzcon to arrive and put a bullet in all of these goddamned 'leak' topics.

[Zexaniro]

you forgot: posting vague cryptic 'info' in multiple threads

[Seranthor]

Red flag 1: too many "key characters"
Blizzard, as a rule, does not aim to stuff x-packs full of characters that ought to be there. Wrathion did not play a role in Legion despite being heavily involved with preparations for the third invasion in MoP. Odyn does not play role in BfA despite it being his direct duty to protect Azeroth. Do not expect the next expansion to have the same cast as BfA. At best Sylvanas will play a major to minor role while the rest of BfA characters will be relegated to being supporting cast. The main cast will predominantly be completely new faces or older characters with a facelift (see: revamped Saurfang and Nathanos in BfA, revamped Illidan in Legion etc.)

Red flag 2: the story is too detailed
When a new x-pack is revealed, the story is still in the storyboarding phase. At best you will get a premise but that's it. So a realistic story leak would look more like "Sylvanas has opened a rift into the Shadowlands" rather than "Sylvanas has opened a rift into the Shadowlands using Xal'atath with N'Zoth trapped inside in order to complete her bargain with Helya which somehow ties into the burning of Teldrassil, the Lich King, Bwonsamdi's boss, Anduin, Il'gynoth's whispers and God knows what else".

Red flag 3: the name is lame
C'mon, Blizzard actually has professionals working on this stuff. "Sisters of Sorrow" sounds like complete ass and is not catchy at all. As a rule, consider this: does the name of the x-pack make sense to non-WoW players? Is it likely to entice them to try WoW? If the answer is no, the leak is fake. Exception: Mists of Pandaria (Pandaria only makes sense to WoW players but since it's a derivative of "panda", it was easy for non-WoW players to infer the theme of the x-pack).

Red flag 4: it's vague / riddle-y
Looking at you, Chinese "leaks". If a leak can be retroactively interpreted to fit several things, it's as fake as fake gets.

Red flag 5: the features are too detailed
No, Blizzard hasn't decided what kind of ilvl the newest x-pack feature will reward. Neither have they decided on 10 new allied races in advance. Compare: "a new feature will be artifacts with progression systems reminiscent of talent trees" vs. "a new feature will be <generic artifact x> which will... <detailed breakdown of how exactly the new feature will work including full lists of class traits / abilities>".

Red flag 6: it reeks of fanfiction
NO. HIGH ELVES WILL NOT BE THE NEW ALLIED RACE. TINKERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW CLASS. THE NEW EXPANSION WILL NOT BE INSPIRED BY VANILLA.

Red flag 7: the leaker does not sound convincing
If you have to justify your leak and explain why / how it makes sense, why not come up with a more convincing leak in the first place?

Feel free to add your own red flags

'I (my friend/etc) works at/with Blizzard' is a huge red flag to me.

[Polybius]

Number 7 is especially good. There's a couple "leaks" out there where the person leaking it is fighting people trying to convince people it's good. If the person is arguing that a stranger's leak is legit, then it's not.

Eh, sort of. The same could be said of WotLK when it first leaked. Or how unbelievable and dumb WoD felt for many.

[Wilfire]

Eh, sort of. The same could be said of WotLK when it first leaked. Or how unbelievable and dumb WoD felt for many.

I'm still not entirely convinced WoD wasn't just a product of mass hysteria.

[lockybalboa]

YELL fake if you see high elves and dragonsworn

[Makorus]

Leaker is really ambiguous about stuff, so they can claim they are right in the future.

[D3athsting]

Leaker has <10 posts

[Magicon]

So, also u mean people should be creative when making a leak? How can it be a leak when we just randomly use out fantasy and creativity. Last expension was easy to predict, despite the faction war. They didnt use Much creativity to predict it, Kul tiras, New artifact - but more lazy, old god influence, races, New scenario-like instances.