New World of Warcraft Expansion Memo Leak

[Jeremiah]

Boub and his fanboys are purporting that it is.

[Frostfire55]

If it is a fake, it's a really good one.

No. It really isn't. It's a crappy fake. It's very obvious and there's a few reasons as to why:

1. The abbreviations aren't well founded and really have no reason for being there. 'o.ceremony' 'fors.future' 'div'd' make the documental unprofessional looking.
2. The positioning of the header is very questionable. Uneven logo placement make for an unusually long header and very unprofessional.
3. It's very rare for an internal document like this to be emailed with the company logo. Unless someone wanted to be fancy. Given the wording of the letter. That wasn't the case.
4. Michael Morhaime being referred to as "mike" strikes me as odd. If you want those reading the letter to be informed, you don't skimp on the information.
5. VotV was mentioned in the opening paragraph yet expanded on the name "Vegence of the Void" afterwards. It's slightly odd that an abbreviation is used before the description is given unless the expansion's name
6. Blizzard's campus is in Irvine, Ca. Activision Blizzard's financial department is located at the address in the letter. Now how would it make sense that something pertaining to lore, class and expansion development is mailed out from the financial department?

If credibility and competition is something MMOwned strived for, this isn't the way to get it. When in doubt, throw the document out.

[Remus3]

Thank you, Frostfire55. I personally agree, this is not how a company runs a memo.... not even close.

However, we do at least get to run with the story and encourage others to figure out as a group if it's fake or not.

Better first than sorry i guess. Who knows maybe some new ideas can come out of this for private servers /le shrug.

[Frostfire55]

Thank you, Frostfire55. I personally agree, this is not how a company runs a memo.... not even close.

However, we do at least get to run with the story and encourage others to figure out as a group if it's fake or not.

Better first than sorry i guess. Who knows maybe some new ideas can come out of this for private servers /le shrug.

I agree however taking a business class and working in journalism positions. It is better to run with stories that are actually true than be something that is shifty. I can't think of a better example than the Killian documents controversy to fit this. The event that Dan Rather supposedly resigned over. CBS gained press but they never really gained viewers or validity for running with fake stories.

As for Aphel, well, I don't know what would work better. A slap on the wrist and being put under a microscope for poor journalism practices or being dropped altogether for being a faulty news correspondant. Where are the other 14 pages? Not enough time to work on them? Or is this just a progressive drip? I think the former than the latter.

[Jeremiah]

I agree however taking a business class and working in journalism positions. It is better to run with stories that are actually true than be something that is shifty. I can't think of a better example than the Killian documents controversy to fit this. The event that Dan Rather supposedly resigned over. CBS gained press but they never really gained viewers or validity for running with fake stories.

As for Aphel, well, I don't know what would work better. A slap on the wrist and being put under a microscope for poor journalism practices or being dropped altogether for being a faulty news correspondant. Where are the other 14 pages? Not enough time to work on them? Or is this just a progressive drip? I think the former than the latter.

We post it for what it is. No news site can ever confirm anything is true about Blizzard's products.

[xf11]

you know, despite the mayhaps bad writing practices of the article itself, the content involving the expansion sounds, well, something that would make sense in warcraft. Considering that the only real venues left for warcraft would otherwise be the emerald dream or where ever the burning legion reside, venturing forth into the twisting nether and making more sense out of the void and the outwordly areas such as xoroth or argus makes a lot of sense on blizzard's part.

From a guy that reads every wowwiki article known to man, reiterating the vague would make a lot more room and a lot more unexpected content, with that reason I think the article may at least a hint of possibility in it, and probably should not of been snuffed out as fast as boub wanted it too be.

[Frostfire55]

We post it for what it is. No news site can ever confirm anything is true about Blizzard's products, and this includes Boub and his dickriders.

Well then Aphel. Post the rest of the 14 pages that came along with the document if you just run with it. I mean, it would be silly if you get a RAR of information only containing one picture.

---------- Post added at 02:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------

you know, despite the mayhaps bad writing practices of the article itself, the content involving the expansion sounds, well, something that would make sense in warcraft. Considering that the only real venues left for warcraft would otherwise be the emerald dream or where ever the burning legion reside, venturing forth into the twisting nether and making more sense out of the void and the outwordly areas such as xoroth or argus makes a lot of sense on blizzard's part.

From a guy that reads every wowwiki article known to man, reiterating the vague would make a lot more room and a lot more unexpected content, with that reason I think the article may at least a hint of possibility in it, and probably should not of been snuffed out as fast as boub wanted it too be.

I'm not saying that the idea is bad. I'm saying that posting false information is. Blizzard really isn't limited when it comes to what they can do with their expansions. Hell, it could be a whole brand new expansion with new characters interacting with old characters. A new villain and whatnot. But really, just because the letter mentions certain things that make sense in a lore perspective doesn't mean the letter is true.

I still think it was a poor choice to post it when a lot of people are picking apart the letter and pointing out tons of issues with it. At least a few more of the pages of this 'official' document would be nice and give more ground.

[xf11]

well, true it doesent, whoever did write the content in the letter though was convincing lore wise at least

[Frostfire55]

well, true it doesent, whoever did write the content in the letter though was convincing lore wise at least

I'll agree with that. But as someone noted in the article comments. Aphel talked about the Ethereal's in previous forums or sites and a video too. If I'd have to ponder as to who made the forgery, I'd look at Aphel.

[Jeremiah]

I'll agree with that. But as someone noted in the article comments. Aphel talked about the Ethereal's in previous forums or sites and a video too. If I'd have to ponder as to who made the forgery, I'd look at Aphel.

I'd love to claim credit, as it is a decently well-made piece of work. The person obviously put a lot of thought into it, and a lot of work considering both the content and the actual layout of the letter (with the company letterhead and all), but it isn't mine, and we don't even know if it's fake yet.

As for the rest of the pages, they will be released after the 4th of July holiday all at once.

[Frostfire55]

I'd love to claim credit, as it is a decently well-made piece of work. The person obviously put a lot of thought into it, and a lot of work considering both the content and the actual layout of the letter (with the company letterhead and all), but it isn't mine, and we don't even know if it's fake yet.

As for the rest of the pages, they will be released after the 4th of July holiday all at once.

So...someone is writing them up as we speak then? I mean, obviously how hard could it be to upload 14 pictures. Crudely link them up on the original article or in a forum post? That has to take, what, twenty minutes top? God bless photobucket.

[Jeremiah]

So...someone is writing them up as we speak then? I mean, obviously how hard could it be to upload 14 pictures. Crudely link them up on the original article or in a forum post? That has to take, what, twenty minutes top? God bless photobucket.

We planned on staggering them even longer to begin with, so to direct traffic in controlled bursts to the website (and obviously for advertisers). As this news hit networks all across the "WoWosphere" in just a few hours, it's actually a much better idea to release the content on a day when a lot of people will be able to read it. Since a lot of people will be away for vacation on the 4th (or already are now), it's a better idea to release it

1.) On a work week day.
2.) On a non-holiday.

[Frostfire55]

We planned on staggering them even longer to begin with, so to direct traffic in controlled bursts to the website (and obviously for advertisers). As this news hit networks all across the "WoWosphere" in just a few hours, it's actually a much better idea to release the content on a day when a lot of people will be able to read it. Since a lot of people will be away for vacation on the 4th (or already are now), it's a better idea to release it

1.) On a work week day.
2.) On a non-holiday.

Point taken. However, we shall see how well the rest of the memo is written. I still find a few points laughable. Deadwind Pass being a starter zone. Neglected Shadow Priest. The wording of the memo being unprofessional such as 'zing it back to me' and 'plain ol' cool' stuff. The points I've stated above. The memo format being off from the typical. And people from WoW Insider calling it a fake too, one of which I believe was a former Blizzard employee.

-EDIT-

Also. For Blizzcon being a good few months away, it's weird that they've already tried to put out prep notes this early. "We want people to be ready. No, really ready. We mean READY ready." And to elaborate on the Deadwind Pass issue. I think this is the most telling for me considering the zone would be the smallest 1 to 10 zone to date. To make it bigger, they'd have to change almost every zone around Deadwind Pass to make it suitably bigger. Blizzard has, in the past, made each new starting zone either on an island or a pennisula because this is easier to fit into the landscape than injecting it into surrounding zones. No other zones except Hyjal were inserted into the game without being on the outer part of any continent or being part of a new continent together. Putting in new zones in that are surrounded on four sides is something blizzard seems to rarely do.

[Jeremiah]

Point taken. However, we shall see how well the rest of the memo is written. I still find a few points laughable. Deadwind Pass being a starter zone. Neglected Shadow Priest. The wording of the memo being unprofessional such as 'zing it back to me' and 'plain ol' cool' stuff. The points I've stated above. The memo format being off from the typical. And people from WoW Insider calling it a fake too, one of which I believe was a former Blizzard employee.

Either that, or Blizzard really, really loves Shadow Priests. Seems they love wizards in general, tbh.

[Frostfire55]

Either that, or Blizzard really, really loves Shadow Priests. Seems they love wizards in general, tbh.

I guess I'll add another thing that I find wrong with the memo is that it is the wrong logo as well. In the official Activision Blizzard logo, the Activision logo is to the side of the Blizzard logo, not above, as seen in the following sites:

Activision | Blizzard - Press Releases

Go ahead, just click on any of the links for the investor documents. The logo in each of these documents are different from the one in the memo.