With the ongoing development of World of Warcraft, as well as new entries in both the Starcraft and Diablo franchises on the way, it's safe to say that the folks at Blizzard Entertainment are pretty busy. However, that hasn't stopped the developer from starting work on a new MMO, which it seems will be based on an entirely new intellectual property.

"We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise," WoW community manager Zarhym posted on the game's official forum. "Which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this."

However, unsurprisingly, it looks like it will be quite some time before we get any real information on the upcoming game. Zarhym described it as "a shell of a game," meaning that it's most likely still in the very early stages of development.

Be sure to go to the original post and read his entire rant—this is one angry guy. He rails against rumors, misconceptions about the company, and plans for existing franchises. I have a feeling the post was written with some heat, and ironically enough we can expect the news he let slip to spread as quickly as the rumors he wrote about.

Fans have often complained of Blizzard treading the same ground with its games, so it's great to see the developer branching out and creating a new franchise. But if even a Blizzard-developed MMO can compete with the astounding success of WoW remains to be seen.