2014 April Fools

A list of Blizzard's **2014 April Fools**.

## Official

### Ready, Set, Fight! Introducing Blizzard Outcasts: Vengeance of the Vanquished

*They may not be the greatest heroes that ever lived. They may not be the strongest, the smartest, or the most capable combatants. But if there’s one thing they do know, it’s how to take a punch!*
### Artcraft—Remaking the Female Draenei

*When you get your hands on Warlords of Draenor, be sure to take a look at some of the unique emotes the animation team has created for her. Some of my favorites are: /twerk, /ew, /chewgum, and /whatever. Also keep in mind that the models shown here are using a temporary pose, which may make her appear more animated and lively than she will in the final product.*

### Warlords of Draenor - 6.0 Patch Note Preview

*As part of our efforts to present players with smaller and more easily digestible numbers (the so-called “Stat Squish”), World of Warcraft has been converted to use a base-20 (vigesimal) number system. As a result, all stats have been decreased by 2BA0E%.*

### Diablo III - ASCEND TO VICTORY WITH HAPPY REAPER™

*In Happy Reaper, players take on the role of Malthael, the Angel of Death, who's recently returned to Sanctuary with a vengeance. With a series of well-timed mouse clicks or finger taps, skillfully guide Malthael through a network of ancient Pandemonium ruins to collect human souls and obliterate all puny nephalem with your trusty Death Laser of Doom™. Bursting with rich gameplay depth, hidden difficulty modes, and the most spectacular end-game content known to man\*\*, Happy Reaper offers limitless hours of ~~frustration~~ enjoyment for any aspiring harbinger of death.*
### Heroes of the Storm - PAJAMATHUR HERO SPOTLIGHT

*All great geneticists get their start somewhere, and for Pajamathur, that moment came shortly after he was created by the Overmind from a collection of many species. Ever since that day, he’s worked to harness his innate talent to improve and enhance the Swarm, while also making sure he gets enough naptime. Staying well-rested and well-equipped with a variety of toys is key to his success, and he’s just the jammie-wearing zerg you want on your team when you’re working to undermine the efforts of your enemies.*
While the blog itself was an April Fool, the Pajamathur skin was later introduced to *Heroes of the Storm*, although featuring Abathur's normal abilities rather than those featured in the blog.
### StarCraft II - Hitting on the Selection of a Name

*At Blizzard, we constantly strive for optimization. Over the last few years, through deep market analysis, ethnographic study, and highly advanced acoustic research, we have come to scientifically prove that the player community prefers games with titles that form the following acronym: HotS. We were amazed. It’s quite unexpected. For some reason, people just synergize with the acronym HotS. In one study, 87% of respondents choose the HotS acronym over another random video game acronym. People seem to like how easy it is to say, how attractive they feel when saying it, and the sudden rise in body temperature associated with such an impactful acronym.*
## Fansites

### Blizzplanet - New World of Warcraft Novel, “Yrel: Heart of Draenor” to be Written by Tara Gilesbie

*Tara Gilesbie is a world renowned writer who, like many in today's age, got her start on the internet. She is best known for her novella* My Immortal*, a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead-style take on the popular Harry Potter series of books; which chronicles Harry's adventures through the eyes of a mentally challenged vampire student attending Hogwarts.*

### Wowhead - Patch 5.4.8 PTR: New Seasonal Events, Cosmetic Tab Added to In-Game Shop, Heroes Rocket Mount

*BLIZZARD\_STORE\_COSMETIC\_SKIN4\_BUY = "You now own the Parrot Form skin!"*
### MMO-Champion - Warlords of Draenor Preview - Faction Change/Betrayal Quest

*In the wake of Garrosh's escape to Draenor, heroes of each faction have discovered that their own faction has started hunting down and arresting or killing Goblins and using their gold to fund the Draenor war effort. Most Goblins have remained neutral throughout history, profiting off of the conflict between the Alliance and Horde, which is how each faction justifies such actions. These actions aren't okay with everyone though, and you will be given a choice to accept what is going on or help the Goblins and betray your faction.*

### HearthPwn.com - Win the Campfire

*In addition to all the rewards that Blizzard is giving out to players, we've decided we'd also like to get in on the action. For today only, if you play one match of Hearthstone, and show us a screenshot of you rofl-stomping your opponent in the comments of this post, we will give you the best that downloadable content has to offer; a Golden Basic Campfire! Act now, it's a very limited time offer! Limit one Golden Basic Campfire per awesome person per promotion. Giveaway is not valid to those who have an active Hearthstone account.*
### reddit - **Ben Brode day**

*Hearthstone* senior game designer Ben Brode was featured in reddit.com's /hearthstone channel's "Ben Brode day" celebrations. All poster icons were replaced with a picture of Ben Brode, while the up and down-vote icons were replaced with alternately inverted images of his head. In the top-left corner of the screen a small figure boasting an oversized copy of the same image of Ben Brode's head greeted readers with the salutation "Brodies!" when moused over. Top comment apparently belonged to none other than Brode himself, posting shortly after midnight with the simple message "WHAT IS HAPPENING".