Overwatch and Eye of Azshara

This is admittedly some old news, but it's always interesting to take a look at some of the trademarks Blizzard is rumored to have filed in anticipation of Blizzcon (which is this week.)

The "Overwatch" trademark was filed way back in April, and there's been quite a bit of speculation on what it could be related to. Given the big gap in the Blizzcon schedule, a lot of people have been speculating that they may be getting ready to announce a new game. This is not Titan - Blizzard officially cancelled that game - but this could be some other project. Just from the name, I get a first-person-shooter vibe, but that's pure speculation on my part.

It is, of course, also possible that this is an expansion or continuation of a known franchise, but the general rumor consensus is that it is not.

Eye of Azshara is, I believe, a newer revelation. Azshara is most certainly a Warcraft-related property, so that leaves us with two options: World of Warcraft or Hearthstone. Again, there seems to be a kind of consensus that it's more likely to be related to Hearthstone, given the imminent arrival of Warlords of Draenor and the low likelihood of Blizzard announcing a new WoW expansion right before it comes out.

That said: one of the most common assumptions about WoW expansions is that there ought to be a South Seas-focused one that deals with Aszhara and the Naga. Blizzard has talked about the desire to one day do playable Naga (if they can figure out how to deal with the lack of legs) and Azshara remains one of the clear, famous, charismatic villains that were showcased in Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm.

There does not (if I recall correctly) seem to be a "What's Next" panel for Hearthstone, but given the nature of that game, Blizzard might not really do things the same way with their announcements for it. There's also no "What's Next" panel for WoW, so that puts them about even.

Still, we don't really know how expansions to Hearthstone will work. The Curse of Naxxramas was kind of an expansion, but it might be on the same order as a content patch. I don't really know what an expansion to Hearthstone would look like, but then, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be one.

So I'll say this: If we don't hear anything about "Eye of Azshara" during Blizzcon, that could mean one of two things - it's either fake (which it turned out the Dark Below was not, only that it was for a different game) or it's the new WoW expansion and they're just waiting to announce it until Warlords has had a chance to breathe.

Hoping for the latter. I don't know if they could justify Demon Hunters just yet, but playable Naga would be really cool.