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

[Teriz]

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.

Well see, that's what I mean, there's going to be a flame war regardless. Look at the flame wars that erupted over MoP and a supposed Legion expansion that was actually a SC2 expansion. The goal of a prank is to get everyone to buy into it. If only half of the user base buys into the prank, then you didn't do your job.

A true hoax IMO is something that your victims completely buy into, hook line and sinker. Look how many people are buying into that obviously fake Skysunder logo. That's a hoax for you, because its simple, and easily recognizable.

[chrisisvacant]

Well see, that's what I mean, there's going to be a flame war regardless. Look at the flame wars that erupted over MoP and a supposed Legion expansion that was actually a SC2 expansion. The goal of a prank is to get everyone to buy into it. If only half of the user base buys into the prank, then you didn't do your job.

A true hoax IMO is something that your victims completely buy into, hook line and sinker. Look how many people are buying into that obviously fake Skysunder logo. That's a hoax for you, because its simple, and easily recognizable.

It isn't "obviously" fake. That you aren't convinced is kind of irrelevant.

[Chudah]

Look how many people are buying into that obviously fake Skysunder logo. That's a hoax for you, because its simple, and easily recognizable.

To tell you the truth, I couldn't even read the logo title at first. I couldn't figure out what the heck the "Y" was supposed to be, thinking maybe it was an "I" and a "J". I know, I know...I'm retarded, but my brain just didn't want to recognize the word "Skysunder." Without any context, it does sound rather ridiculous.

[Sal the Shieldhog]

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)

Exactly. 3 reasons why I think The Dark Below is actually real.

1. Wrathion's 5.4 dialogue states that the Alliance would have about a year to crush the rest of the Horde after Siege of Orgrimmar takes place. This leads me to believe that we have to have something else to do in that time. Blizzard has never done a timeskip in WoW's lore between expansions, and I don't foresee them starting now.

2. Azshara and N'zoth aren't going to sit idly by much longer. Azshara has had almost 2 years now to bend Neptulon and the Trident of the Tides to her will (on top of whatever else she's been planning since the Sundering). N'zoth has had almost as long to recover from Deathwing's failure. If they don't do something in a year of relative peacetime, something is wrong (not to mention the Old Gods' typically have plans within plans within plans within plans, so they don't tend to be set far back).

3. MMO-Champion and other sites have datamined secretive stuff before, and received, "WTF bro?" letters from WoW, leading to subsequent cover-up attempts. This Corgi fiasco strongly sounds like one to me, as is Boub's "probably rampant speculation on our part."

If the Dark Below isn't something for WoW, I will be very surprised.

[Teriz]

It isn't "obviously" fake. That you aren't convinced is kind of irrelevant.

Yes it is. Unless you actually believe that an expansion-level event is going to happen in the final patch of the existing expansion.

[chrisisvacant]

Yes it is. Unless you actually believe that an expansion-level event is going to happen in the final patch of the existing expansion.

It's a screenshot of a patch logo. It says nothing about what happens and we already have had epilogue/prelude patches before. There is no precedent stating that they could absolutely never ever make a logo for the final patch. They have been purposely deceptive about what the final patch is going to include.

[Mormolyce]

It's in Blizzard's name. Does that mean I could trademark "Hot Sexy Nude Dogs" in Blizzard's name?

If the front page is correct, you can file an application. And MMO-C's team of cyberstalkers would eagerly pick it up like they did the Corgis title.

So yeah... try it and tell us how it turns out!

[Teriz]

It's a screenshot of a patch logo. It says nothing about what happens and we already have had epilogue/prelude patches before. There is no precedent stating that they could absolutely never ever make a logo for the final patch. They have been purposely deceptive about what the final patch is going to include.

You have the words "Skysunder" in big green burning letters. You know exactly what that means. Again, its a solid hoax, because it doesn't have to make you think. You just look at it and you automatically know and recognize what it's about.

Its also a solid hoax because you're defending it, even though the very premise of it is absolutely absurd.

[Renley]

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.

Oh snap, yer right, my bad. Completely forgot about that. I do agree that this could go either way, it's def not confirmed fake in my eyes.

[chrisisvacant]

You have the words "Skysunder" in big green burning letters. You know exactly what that means. Again, its a solid hoax, because it doesn't have to make you think. You just look at it and you automatically know and recognize what it's about.

Its also a solid hoax because you're defending it, even though the very premise of it is absolutely absurd.

No, you seem to think you know what it means. Yet you have still not proven anything nor provided any information which would prove it's a hoax. You can try to invalidate what I'm saying, but that's your prerogative. Ignorance is bliss.

[Chudah]

No, you seem to think you know what it means. Yet you have still not proven anything nor provided any information which would prove it's a hoax. You can try to invalidate what I'm saying, but that's your prerogative. Ignorance is bliss.

If that logo doesn't mean infernals will be raining out of the sky, then whoever on Blizzard's art department whipped that thing together is pretty bad at their job.

[Teriz]

No, you seem to think you know what it means. Yet you have still not proven anything nor provided any information which would prove it's a hoax. You can try to invalidate what I'm saying, but that's your prerogative. Ignorance is bliss.

Um, how about the fact that Blizzard would never put the next expansions's major event in the previous expansion? That should read 6.0, not 5.5.

[chrisisvacant]

If that logo doesn't mean infernals will be raining out of the sky, then whoever on Blizzard's art department whipped that thing together is pretty bad at their job.

That's just it - the theme of the patch is clear and that isn't what I'm talking about. Just because there is a logo on an epilogue patch does not mean anything like a raid or other "expansion-level event" (whatever that means).

- - - Updated - - -

Um, how about the fact that Blizzard would never put the next expansions's major event in the previous expansion? That should read 6.0, not 5.5.

Epilogue patches. They've done it before. Get into it.

[Trialtm]

Um, how about the fact that Blizzard would never put the next expansions's major event in the previous expansion? That should read 6.0, not 5.5.

Truth. 10 chars

[Teriz]

Epilogue patches. They've done it before. Get into it.

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.

[Florena]

Exactly. 3 reasons why I think The Dark Below is actually real.

1. Wrathion's 5.4 dialogue states that the Alliance would have about a year to crush the rest of the Horde after Siege of Orgrimmar takes place. This leads me to believe that we have to have something else to do in that time. Blizzard has never done a timeskip in WoW's lore between expansions, and I don't foresee them starting now.

2. Azshara and N'zoth aren't going to sit idly by much longer. Azshara has had almost 2 years now to bend Neptulon and the Trident of the Tides to her will (on top of whatever else she's been planning since the Sundering). N'zoth has had almost as long to recover from Deathwing's failure. If they don't do something in a year of relative peacetime, something is wrong (not to mention the Old Gods' typically have plans within plans within plans within plans, so they don't tend to be set far back).

3. MMO-Champion and other sites have datamined secretive stuff before, and received, "WTF bro?" letters from WoW, leading to subsequent cover-up attempts. This Corgi fiasco strongly sounds like one to me, as is Boub's "probably rampant speculation on our part."

If the Dark Below isn't something for WoW, I will be very surprised.

Wrathion's files in 5.4 leave me to believe he's not anticipating a specific event, or think that it's happening immediately, but rather that it's going to come at some time, one way or another, and we need to be ready for it when, not IF, the Legion comes knocking. It could be 3 expansions from now for all we know, or in Warcraft 4. (Though probably not THAT long. )

[Chudah]

That's just it - the theme of the patch is clear and that isn't what I'm talking about. Just because there is a logo on an epilogue patch does not mean anything like a raid or other "expansion-level event" (whatever that means).

- - - Updated - - -



Epilogue patches. They've done it before. Get into it.

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.

[Antilurker77]

1. Wrathion's 5.4 dialogue states that the Alliance would have about a year to crush the rest of the Horde after Siege of Orgrimmar takes place. This leads me to believe that we have to have something else to do in that time. Blizzard has never done a timeskip in WoW's lore between expansions, and I don't foresee them starting now.

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

[Hitei]

Um, how about the fact that Blizzard would never put the next expansions's major event in the previous expansion? That should read 6.0, not 5.5.

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.

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.

Escalation was a let down in a lot of ways (Alliance player here.)
But Landfall was a very solid patch.

[chrisisvacant]

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.

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