by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

In Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) on October 27th, Blizzard has filed a trademark for “Eye of Azshara“.

I’m sure many people remember the whole “Dark Below” hoax with Blizzard trademark filings, but with things being this close to BlizzCon I find it rather doubtful that this is fake. Also, the Dark Below made zero sense in what it could be, where as “Eye of Azshara” has a completely reasonable explanation. Remember, last year we also had Heroes of the Storm trademarked as well as Warlords of Draenor and both happened roughly a week or so before their announcements, which fits the time frame here with BlizzCon. So if I were a betting man, I’d definitely be betting this isn’t a hoax and is indeed a real thing.

So what is “Eye of Azshara” then? Well, in my opinion, it will be the next Hearthstone expansion which will get announced Friday at BlizzCon.

For those who do not follow WoW, Azshara is a horde zone right outside the northern edge of Orgrimmar. Goblins have taken up residence there and you can find all kinds of inventions in the area. The “Eye” of Azshara is like a reference to this particular spot.

The “Eye” is known as Bilgewater Harbor. It’s a goblin settlement which also acts as the Horde’s naval port for Orgrimmar. It’s basically the settlement that many of the goblins of the horde took up residence in after coming in from the Lost Isles in Cataclysm.

It’s also known for having a big canon that basically points to no where.

If you look at the place closely though, you will see that the architecture closely resembles that of November’s ranked play card back.

Last but not least, you will remember that late last week Blizzard sent us a blueprint in the mail of a repair bot along with a message that said “Making plans for BlizzCon – I hope you like my invention!”

At this point, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to determine that the Hearthstone team is planning on announcing their next expansion at BlizzCon. It will be called “Eye of Azshara” and it will have a heavy goblin/mech theme to it. Since it’s goblin based, I would also expect a lot of crazy RNG with the cards because goblin inventions can be wildly unpredictable.

Blizzard has another trademark on the books called “OverWatch“. We expect this to be related possibly to a new game that we believe Blizzard plans on announcing at BlizzCon.

What We Know About the Expansion So Far

We actually do know a little bit about the upcoming expansion based on past interviews. We know it will not be an adventure mode like Curse of Naxxramas was. Instead, this will be more of a traditional CCG release with cards coming from booster packs you will buy from the store (gold or real cash money).

It’s expected to be over 100 cards in the set.

You will be able to buy choose a separate booster pack, so when you purchase packs you will be able to select the current packs, or the new expansion pack.

We hope to have all the full answers on the future plans with Hearthstone (and please please have details on observer mode) Friday at BlizzCon.