World of Warcraft terminology

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World of Warcraft has, like any other role-playing game, many abbreviations that can be confusing to new players. Here is a list of terminology and acronyms that are specific to players in World of Warcraft. Common Internet slang and general MMORPG terminology as well as leet terms, are not included so if you do not find the term you are looking for here, please check MMORPG terminology and leet terms.

ATTENTION: Any additions that fall into the category of MMORPG terms and acronyms and leet terms will be removed without warning. Please check the two previously mentioned articles before adding new terminology.

Contents:	Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] 0-9

1H: One-handed weapon. Carried by most classes, though carried mainly for stats by mages, warlocks, priests and druids. All other classes rely on these for damage output. These classes who use weapons for damage output will generally carry 1H weapons in PvE where holding a shield in the other hand is important for damage Mitigation. Rogues, hunters and warriors will often Dual Wield two 1H weapons in each hand for primary DPS output though, and Shamans are not able to use two handed weapons unless they invest a talent point to learn them and therefore use one-handed weapons if they have not trained two-handed weapons. 1H weapons are subdivided into Main Hand, Off Hand, and One Hand. The first two as their name suggests can only be wielded in a certain hand, while those designated "One Hand" can be wielded in either hand.
1v1: A duel between two characters, the simplest form of PvP. Popular dueling sites are in front of Ironforge (the main Alliance capital) and Orgrimmar (the main Horde capital). 1v1 PvP also can occur randomly when opposing faction members encounter one another.
2H: Two-handed weapon. Commonly used by Paladins, Shaman, and Warriors to get in very heavy (but very slow) hits. Works well in PvP. Caster classes, such as Druids, Mages, Priests, and Warlocks, also use 2h weapons, but usually in the form of staves, and are generally not used for melee. An exception to this would be a Druid that invests in Feral tree talents.
20-Man: 20-Man raids refer to a group of 20 different people grouped up (usually in the same guild) that "raid" a more difficult than average instance, such as Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (AQ) or Zul'Gurub (ZG). These 20-Man raids are much more difficult than the average 5-man instance, (Scholomance, Stratholme, Dire Maul, etc.) but reward items or loot of higher quality.
3-Minute Mage: Refers to a mage who possesses one or all of the following: Arcane Power, Zandalarian Hero Charm, Talisman of Ephemeral Power. All of these skills/trinkets have a 3-minute cooldown or less, and allow for increased magical effectiveness for around 15 seconds. The trinkets are usually given to mages. When used in conjunction with one another, these skills/trinkets can nearly guarantee at least one kill in PvP. Mages with this combination are often accused of not knowing how to play, and are accused of only engaging in PvP every 3 minutes. Calling someone a 3-minute mage is considered an insult.
5-Man: Refers to a 5-man party, used to distinguish from larger raids; i.e. "LFG Scholo 5-man" (the player is looking for a 5-man group, not a raid party, to run through the Scholomance instance). Most quests cannot be finished when a player is part of a raid group, so those quests require that the instance be run by a single 5-man party, even if the instance is raidable. As of Patch 1.11, many of the instances that used to be "farmed" by 10-man groups (most notably, Scholo, Strath and BRD) now bar groups larger than 5.
40-Man: 40-Man raids refer to a group of 40 different people grouped up (usually in the same guild) that "raid" a more difficult than average instance, such as The Molten Core (MC), Blackwing Lair (BWL), Ahn'Qiraj (AQ), or the newest raid instance Naxxramas (July 14/06). These 40-Man raids are much more difficult than the average 5-man instance, (Scholomance, Stratholme, Dire Maul, etc.) but reward items or loot of higher quality.
45min Run (Baron Run): A phrase that refers to a run in Stratholme ("Undead/Baron Side") with the goal of completing it in less than 45 minutes. A required task for those who want to complete their tier 0.5 quest line.

[edit] A

AB

Arathi Basin (PvP battleground instance).
A mage spell called Arcane Brilliance that when used casts Arcane Intellect on an entire party.

AD: Argent Dawn - A faction that specializes in dealing with the undead scourge. Gaining reputations with AD allows the aquisition of special items.
Aggro(e) Magnet (AgMag): The term used for low-leveled players that pull much higher leveled monsters due to the extended aggro range. Can mean a player who mismanages their aggro level when fighting in a group. Can also refer to a 'tank'.
AE: Most commonly refers to the mage spell, Arcane Explosion. Can also mean Area of Effect (AoE).
AH: Auction House. There is an auction house in every major city (i.e. Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, etc.). The AH allows you to auction collected loot for purchase by other players. The auction houses for each faction are linked, so the [Chipped Fang] you put up for auction at the AH in Stormwind can be seen and bought by someone at the AH in Darnassus. There are also netural auction houses in the Steamwheedle Cartel cities of Gadgetzan, Everlook and Booty Bay, where players can sell items to either faction. These neutral auction houses are also linked; however, these neutral auction houses also put a huge bonus on what you must pay for a deposite (something that may cost 1 gold to put up for 24 hours in the IronForge AH may cost 3 or 4 to put it up in the Booty Bay AH).
Ahnk: Alternative term for the Shaman skill, Reincarnation, which allows the Shaman to ressurect himself with 20% of his health and mana once every hour. This term refers to the reagent that the spell uses, an Ahnk.
AI: Arcane Intellect, a magical buff mages can cast that increases the target's intellect by up to 31.
Alch: The alchemy skill, or a player who practices it.
AotC: A hunter class skill, Aspect of the Cheetah.
AotH: A hunter class skill, Aspect of the Hawk.
AotM: A hunter class skill, Aspect of the Monkey.
AotP: A hunter class skill, Aspect of the Pack.
AP: The final talent in a mage's arcane talent tree, Arcane Power. This skill increases damage and mana cost of offensive spells by 30% for 15 seconds. It has a cooldown of 3 minutes. Also see '3-Minute Mage'.
AP: Refers to a characters Attack Power.
AQ: Ahn’Qiraj (instance). AQ20 is the 20 man Ahn'Qiraj instance. AQ40 is the 40 man Ahn'Qiraj instance. AQ without number, usually refers to Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (40-Man), and for Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (20-Man) players use AQ20.
AR: Arcane resistance.
AS: An armorsmith, which is a blacksmith that has specialized in the crafting of mail and plate armor.
ARR PEE: An insulting way of referring to Roleplay (RP). Considered derogatory and slightly insulting to the intelligence of those at which it's directed.
Atts: Weapon Attributes (Stamina, Strength, Agility, etc.).
AV: Alterac Valley (PvP battleground instance).

[edit] B

Baron: Refers to the Undead Side of Stratholme. "Baron" comes from the name of the final boss of the instance, Baron Rivendare. For Baron Run, see 45min Run.
Barrens Chat: Refers to the conversation that occurs in the chat channels of The Barrens, a zone in Kalimdor. Barrens Chat is notorious for off-topic (and often totally random) conversation, though why this has occurred in the Barrens specifically, and not in any of the other zones of the game, has yet to be determined. Supposition suggests that Barrens Chat may be a result of distance and isolation; the Barrens is said to be one of the largest zones in the game, in terms of geographical area and mob level, and players are often so distant from each other that 'face-to-face' conversation is impossible. Another theory is that it is the only non-contested territory that is used by 3 races (Orcs, Trolls and Tauren) as a secondary "newbie" zone. To add to this, Undead players often choose to quest in the barrens rather than Silverpine.
BB: Booty Bay, the southernmost city on the continent of Azeroth. Run by the Goblin Steamwheedle Cartel. Also, an abbreviated form of 'Bye-Bye'.
BC: Refers to Nathanos Blightcaller, a boss in Eastern Plaguelands. May also refer to the first expansion of World of Warcraft, named World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
BF: Used on some servers to refer to the Rogue Tier 2 Armor 'Bloodfang'.
BFD: Blackfathom Deeps (instance).
BG/BGs: Battlegrounds, instances designated exclusively for PvP combat.
Blind Pulling: See LoS Pull
Blood Elf/BE/Belf: One of two player races scheduled to be included in the forthcoming expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
Blues: In the game, blues are items of rare quality, and are color-coded blue to identify their status. A player who has mostly blue items at level 60 is considered to be wearing slightly above average gear. In the World of Warcraft Forums, the name "Blue" refers to the thread/channel supervisor/administrator, as their posts are color coded blue. Attempting to get the attention of a 'Blue' on the official World of Warcraft forums by titling a thread 'Blue, read this' or similar will often cause the thread in question to be locked.
BM: Beast Mastery specialization for the Hunter class.
Body Pull: Pulling a monster by getting close to it. Also see "Face Pull" and/or "LoS Pull".
BoE: Bind on Equip. The item becomes soulbound, unable to be traded to another player, to you when you equip it.
BoK: Paladin skill, Blessing of Kings, which can only be learned by taking 11 points into Paladin's Protection tree. One of the many paladin abilities that are said by Horde to make Alliance more easy when raiding.
BoM: Paladin skill, Blessing of Might, often used for melee classes.
BoP: Bind on Pickup. The item is soulbound to you as soon as you pick it up. Also Blessing of Protection, a Paladin skill.
BoS: Paladin skill, Blessing of Salvation, often complained by Horde for making Alliance raiding easier. Horde has since then, received Tranquil Air Totem, which acts similarly to Blessing of Salvation, to the Horde Shamans.
BoW: Paladin skill, Blessing of Wisdom, often used for mana-based classes.
BRD: Blackrock Depths (instance).
BRS: Blackrock Spire, a two-part, 10-man raid instance. Divided into UBRS (Upper) and LBRS (Lower).
BS: A player who practices the blacksmithing skill. An abbreviation for the Hunter Tier 0 armor, Beaststalker Armor. Also refers to the Blacksmith location in the Arathi Basin PvP battleground.
Bubblehearth: A term referring to the tactic of some Paladin players that cast their Divine Shield (an invulnerabilility spell) and their hearth stone in an attempt to teleport to their home town without being harmed. Since the Hearth Stone has a rather lengthy casting time, it is possible for opposing players to attack and interfere with the hearthing process unless the shield can cover the entire cast time (which it can at around level 50 and above.) This tactic is sometimes used when engaged in PvP, but is ridiculed and considered cowardly. Also known as 'Shieldhearth'.
Bubble Pull: Engaging a mob or boss by way of a Paladin running up to the target and activating Divine Shield, then bringing the target back to the Tank. Considered to a safe pulling method as the Paladin is immune to damage and has relatively low aggro.
Bur: Due to the World of Warcraft linguistics system, an Alliance character saying "Lol" will appear as "Bur" to Horde characters.
Burn: The act of using an ability that has a long 'recharge time'. When a Hearthstone has just been used, and is in cooldown, a player is said to have 'burned his Hearthstone', until the cooldown period completes. Believed to have originated with the massively-multiplayer game 'Guild Wars'.
BWL: Blackwing Lair (40-player raid instance).

[edit] C

C: Copper (coin, normally), ie. "I'll buy those Warped Leather Pants for 5c!" The smallest of the three coin values in the game.
Cap: To capture a flag or strategic location in the PvP battlegrounds. Also refers to a 'level cap', after which point a player character can no longer gain levels or experience from completing quests.
Camp Taco/Camp T: A disparaging term for the hard-to-spell and formerly hard-to-reach Camp Taurajo.
CC: Crowd Control, any of various mechanisms used temporarily to control an enemy's movements or behavior, such as a mage casting polymorph (sheeping), a druid casting hibernate, a rogue using sap or a priest casting shackle undead. Also used as a reference of "Corpse Camping".
Chant: Short for Enchanting or Enchant, i.e. "Can anyone chant my bracers?" or "What level is your chanting at?"
Clothadin: Term that can be used to refer to a Paladin who wears cloth armor for better healing stats, or a Paladin who specializes in healing.
Clothies: Refers to Priests, Mages, and Warlocks. Namely, those classes limited to cloth armor.
CoA: A Warlock's Curse of Agony. Does damage over time.
CoC: A mage's cone of cold spell. Coned slow spell with some damage. Damage can be increased through improved cone of cold. Used in many combinations with shatter.
CoD: A warlock spell, Curse of Doom, or a "Cash on Delivery" payment made through the in-game mail system.
CoE: A Warlock's Curse of the Elements. Increases fire and frost damage against the enemy. May also refer to Curse of Exhaustion, which reduces movement speed.
CoEx: A Warlock's Curse of Exhaustion. Reduces target's movement speed.
Cooldown: The amount of time needed for a spell or effect to reset so that it may be used again.
CoR: A Warlock's Curse of Recklessness. Increases enemy attack ability but decreases armor and prevents enemies from running in fear.
Corpse Camping: When a player deliberately stays near a player's corpse, waiting for them to resurrect in order to kill them again. This is not considered grief play according to in-game PvP polices, although most players consider it to be low-level harassment because for the first minute or two after your character resurrects, s/he will have very little health, allowing an unscrupulous player to easily kill them.
Corpse Jumping: Used by solo players, and sometimes small groups, to reach areas/NPCs that are blocked by numerous mobs/creeps of an equal or higher level than the player. The player will run as far as they can towards their destination before getting killed, corpse run back from the nearest graveyard, resurrect as far away from their body and as close to their goal as possible, and repeat as many times as is necessary until they reach their goal. Corpse jumping is not advisable as a general mode of travel, because of the lengthy walk back to the corpse. Also, the character's currently-equipped armor and weapons will suffer damage and repairs can be quite expensive.
Corpse Running: Also known as Corpse Walking. Involves running a character's 'ghost' or 'wisp' from the graveyard to the site of the fallen body.
CoS: A Warlock's Curse of Shadow. Increases shadow and arcane damage against the enemy.
CoW: A Warlock's Curse of Weakness. Reduces the damage dealt by target.
Creep: Same as Mob.
Critter: Low level creatures that do not give experience points when killed, and do not attack you at all. Examples: cows, small cats and dogs, squirrels.
CS: Refers to the Mage's Counterspell ability. Used to prevent an NPC or other player from casting a spell. Can also refer to Cheap Shot (rogue ability), or Cryptstalker Armor (Hunter Tier 3 Epic Set).
CTF: Capture the flag, referring to the Warsong Gulch battlegrounds. (See WSG.)

[edit] D

Danked: Danked, the past participle of "dank", is used to refer to someone who replies to their own post while posing as another person (see Internet sock puppet), but forgets to change their username. The poster's intention may be to "bump" the thread to a higher position on the page, or to create the illusion of consensus (this is akin to astroturfing, a type of PR campaign that seeks to create the impression of independent public support).[1]
Darn: Darnassus, Night Elf Capital City.
DB: Dun Baldar, as in the Alterac Valley PvP battleground.
DE: Disenchant
DI: Divine Intervention. An ability used by Paladins in which they sacrifice their own life in order to remove another player from combat in hopes that the surviving player may be able to revive his fallen party. Renders the recipient unable to act and unable to take damage or be targeted.
DKP: Dragon Kill Points (DKP). A system used by guilds to distribute items gained.
DK/DHK: Dishonorable Kill. Gained after killing an NPC of the opposite faction that is a civilian. A severe honor penalty is incurred and unlike Honorable Kills, the penalty is subtracted from your current honor and rank instantly. DKs are severely discouraged, and have led to the collapse of more than one raiding party. DKs cannot be acquired by killing players.
DM: Deadmines or Dire Maul (instances). On some servers this currently refers to the Dire Maul instance, while Deadmines is called VC, after Van Cleef, the major boss of that instance. On other servers DM still refers to Deadmines while DiM is used to refer to Dire Maul.
DMF: Darkmoon Faire, a monthly event that takes place in Azeroth (in the Alliance area of Elwynn Forest) and Kalimdor (in the Horde area of Mulgore.) Here, players can take on quests that reward them with Darkmoon Faire Tickets, special rewards that can be traded in with the fair owners for rare/epic items.
DnD: Do Not Disturb; typing /dnd will put you in this state, notifying all private message (whispers) senders, that you are DnD. Do not mistake it for Dungeons and Dragons, which is now refered to as D&D for the sake of not getting misunderstood.
DoT: Damage-Over-Time, usually referring to a spell or ability which harms an enemy over a period of time.
DPSadin: Refers to DPS specced and geared Paladins. Can become a derogatory tone used against Paladins that focus on dealing damage more than healing. Also may be called Retardin (based on the Paladin talent tree, Retribution), or Critadin for Paladins that stack up on Crit+ based gears.
Draenei: One of two new races, this one for the Alliance, scheduled for the upcoming expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Draenei are physically imposing creatures with large tails, originally from Outland. They left their homeworld in the wake of the Burning Legion, only to end up crashing on Azeroth in the northwestern islands of Kalimdor.
Drain Tanking: A common tactic Warlocks use while levelling, essentially using a high-damage pet and all their damage-over-time effects to drop a target whilst they're using 'Drain Life' to offset the damage being dealt to them.
DS: Darkshire, a town in Duskwood. Also an abbriviation for Hunters Tier 2 armor, Dragonstalker.
DW: Duskwood, the area surrounding Darkshire, located south of Elwynn Forest.

[edit] E

Elite: Mobs with a golden dragon around their portraits are elite. Elite mobs are much stronger than regular ones; their relative strength varies, and typically they are extremely difficult to defeat alone even if they are three or four levels below the player. Instances contain mostly elites. Mobs with a proper name (such as "Akubar the Seer") and not a generic one (such as "Bloodsail Warlock") have a silver dragon around their portraits and are not elite, but rare (see rare mobs below).
EP/EPL: Eastern Plaguelands, a zone in the northeast of Azeroth.
Epix: A term used for purple coloured, epic quality items throughout the game. The difference is that "Epix" has a more "greedy" and kind of "sick" meaning, usually, (uses e.g. "Gief Epix", "ZoMG ePiXXX, gief!", etc).
Ez mode/Easy mode: A term used to describe a particular class as being overpowered e.g. "Hunters are ez mode" or "Rogues are ez mode in solo".

[edit] F

Face Melting: This term is used when describing what Priests (Shadow Priests) do to other players in PvP, and to a lesser extent, PvE. The term originated from the observation that the icon for Mind Flay (a priest talent) resembles a melting face, as well as a famous World of Warcraft forum thread, in which a player inquired as to the effectiveness of shadow priests in PvP. The poster received over 1000 replies of "You will melt faces".
Face Pull: Running up and engaging the target mob instead of engaging from a range and bring the monster to the group.
Farming: The act of repeatedly gathering the same item.
Farming(instance)/on farm status.: A statement used to refer to an instance that is frequently completed with ease and in little time such as “We are farming Molten Core” or “We have Blackwing Lair on farm status”.
FC: Flag Carrier. The player that currently has the flag in Warsong Gulch PvP battleground. Can become Enemy FC for the other faction's flag carrier.
FD: Feign Death (A hunter ability that causes the caster to appear dead to other players).
Fear: A Warlock ability that causes the target to run in terror for a short period of time. Dangerous in certain areas, as the 'Fear'ed creature stands a good chance of running into nearby mobs.
FFA: Free for all. Name of a loot method used in the World of Warcraft's looting system.
Fiery: A short name for the Fiery Weapon enchant.
Fodder: This term refers to a method used to randomly distribute items that are of no particular interest to any of the players within a group. This method is oftentimes used after a BoP (Bind on Pick-up) item of rare (Blue) or higher quality has been passed on by every player in the group. To determine who wins the item, every player uses the /roll command which is typed in the chat window. This command produces a random number between 1 and 100. Higher roller wins the item. This term can also be used to describe the item being rolled on as well.
Fort: Common term used to describe or ask for the "Power Word: Fortitude" spell to be cast on a player, a highly-desired priest stamina buff, which increases a players health.
FP: Flight Point/Path.
FR: Fire Resistance, which refers to a player's ability to resist fire spells and effects. Also, Flag Room, referring to a faction's flag room in the Warsong Gulch Battleground.
FrR: Frost Resistance, used to seperate Fire Resistance and Frost Resistance since the addition of Naxxramas.
Fury: One of the three Warrior talent trees, focused primarily on creating Rage.
Flagged: Also Flagged Player. A PvP term. To be 'Flagged' means a player has (willingly or unwillingly) opened himself to attack from any hostile members of the opposing faction. It is possible to 'self-flag' by attacking a civilian of the opposing faction, or by typing /pvp. However, when removing 'flagged' status, there is a five-minute delay before the player is 'unflagged'.
FW: Frostwolf, as in the Alterac Valley PvP battleground.
FtH: For the Horde!!

[edit] G

G: Gold (coin), i.e., "I still need 20g before I can afford my mount." Gold is the largest single currency in the game. 100 copper = 1 silver. 100 silver = 1 gold. Copper and silver are both capped at 99, after which they are auto-converted to the next higher denomination.
Gad/Gadget: Gadgetzan, a Goblin-controlled city in Tanaris.
Glass Cannon: Of unknown origin, possibly from Rise of Heroes: Rise of Legends, where the Glass Cannon is an exceptionally powerful unit; usually, a spell-casting class that can deal large amounts of damage at a distance, but are relatively weak in close quarters. Often used for mages and other spellcasters, who have great offensive capabilities at long distance, but with their cloth armor and very low hit points are the most fragile class in the game. Also often used to refer to Warriors who choose to use Plate or even Mail armor items that trade protective attributes for offensive ones, resulting in a character that can deal heavier damage but is unable to survive as effectively.
Global LFG: Introduced in Patch 1.11, Global LFG is a channel for players who are looking for a "pick-up group" or for groups that are looking for additional players to round out their complement. Because it is the only public channel that is truly global in scope, Global LFG often fills with chatter not related to the channel's purpose.
GM: Game Master The Blizzard team responsible for managing and upholding the rules in realms. GM can also refer to the "Grand Marshal" PvP ranking. It can also refer to the Guild Master of a guild. (However, the acronym 'GL' also represents Guild Leader).
Gnomer: Gnomeregan (instance).
Gold Farmers: Characters (typically played by more than one person so they can be online 24/7) that do nothing but farm money and high-value loot in order to sell in-game gold to other players for real-world money, or sell rare and epic drops to other players for gold. The typical usage is "Chinese Gold Farmer", since many of these characters are run for-profit by companies in China and other parts of Asia.
GotW: Gift of The Wild, a druid buff. Like Mark of the Wild, but can be cast on up to 5 members of a party simultaneously and requires a reagent. Also jokingly referred to as the 'Cow-buff' or 'Tree-buff'.
Grand Marshal: The highest Alliance PvP rank.
Greens: Greens are items of uncommon quality, and are color-coded green to identify their status. A player who has mostly green items at level 60 is considered to be undergeared, although a player at level 20 in all greens is considered well-equipped since most rare (blue) and epic (purple) items are not available before level 25 or so.
GS: Goldshire, a town in Elywnn Forest. Also an abbreviation for the Hunter Tier 1 armor, Giantstalkers.
GY: Graveyard : where your ghost/wisp appears after you have been killed. Also a section of the Scarlet Monastery instance.
GY Run: Running as a ghost from the graveyard to your corpse. Also known as a corpserun/corpse run.

[edit] H

Healadin: Refers to Pladins who are Holy specced or simply more suited for healing. See Pally/Palla.
Hearth: To use a hearthstone to return to one's home location. As in, "I'm going to hearth back to Goldshire."
Hillsbrad: An area in the Eastern Kingdoms that is most noted for its PvP activity upon the release of the honor system, and before the release of battlegrounds. It is also one of the first contested territories that a player will reach that has towns and quests for both factions. Alliance members reach this area later in the game than horde do (the Undead race starts near here), and tend to have a level advantage over the horde.
HK: Honorable Kill. Occurs when a player kills a member of the opposing faction. Honorable kills increase a player's honor ranking. Honor decays over time, so players that wish to maintain their status must continually refresh their HKs by engaging in PvP.
HS: Hearthstone (See 'Hearth'). Also refers to a Warlock's Healthstone ("Anyone need an HS?").
Huntard: Derogatory term for hunters who, being the most common class, are often controlled by poor players. A portmanteau of the words Hunter and Retard.
HW/HWL: High Warlord, the highest PvP rank for Horde players.

[edit] I

IAE: Instant Arcane Explosion. Arcane Explosion is a mage AoE spell with no cast time if specced for it. As of patch 1.11, which made Arcane Explosion instant for all mages, the abbreviation has become rare in game.
IB: Iceblood, as in the Alterac Valley PvP battleground.
Ice Block Pull: See "Bubble Pull". Only difference is that this time, the pull isn't done by a Paladin who used Divine Shield, but by a Mage who uses Ice Block, a talent based skill.
IF: Ironforge, the Dwarven and Gnomish capital city. Central hub of activity for Alliance players.
Imba: Imbalance(d)/unfair. Commonly refers to exceptionally good (usually rare (blue) or epic (purple))items e.g. "That sword is so imba", twinked characters or character classes that have been strengthened by a patch or through lack of development. Compare 'nerfed'.
Inc: Short for "incoming" which is a term used by someone to notify their fellow party members of an aggroed mob coming their way. Also used by party members who "pull" mobs to their group, thus saying "inc" to notify their party of the pull. Commonly used in WoW's Battlegrounds during capture the flag.
Ironlag: (Also, 'Lagforge'). A somewhat common, slightly derogatory method of referring to the Alliance city of Ironforge. The term originated due to Ironforge's vast, open chambers and the large number of players therein, which often cause severe latency (lag) to players with the bare minimum of system requirements.
Inv: Often used in chat as an abbreviation of invite. Most common at the beginning of a battleground (Prior to auto-teamming in 1.1.12). Should not be confused with the older shorthand term for 'inventory'.
IW: Icewing, as in the Alterac Valley PvP battleground.

[edit] J

JM: Judgement, Paladin's Tier 2 armor, acquired mostly in Blackwing Lair, except the helm that drops from Onyxia in her Lair and the pants that drop from Ragnaros, last boss of Molten Core.
JoL: Judgement of Light, a Paladin skill.
JoW: Judgement of Wisdom, a Paladin skill that allows all party/raid members attacking the target to regenereate some mana per hit.

[edit] K

KB: Killing Blow, the act of doing the last attack on a player so he/she dies. In a Battleground the player list is sorted according to the number of killing blows by default.
KDR: Refers to a player's Kill/Death Ratio. When playing in Battle Grounds the number of times you die or kill another player are tracked by the system and can be viewed at any time during or after the match. Although they have no impact on scoring or Honor, they are still used as bragging rights.
Kek: Due to the World of Warcraft linguistics engine, a Horde player saying 'lol' will, to an Alliance player, appear to be saying 'Kek'. 'Kek' is often used as a term by both Horde and Alliance, though to a Horde member, 'Kek' would translate as gibberish if used by Alliance.
KoS: Kill on Sight, Generally reserved for PvP realms, this term essentially means to kill any members of an opposing faction whenever they are encountered.

[edit] L

L2p: Learn to play. An insulting phrase usually directed at someone who has clearly made an incorrect statement. Use of 'L2p' is usually colored by disdain.
Lagrimmar/Lagforge: Nickname for Orgrimmar and Ironforge, respectively, due to high latency and large player population.
LB: Used on some servers as an abbreviation for the Paladin Tier 1 Armor 'Lawbringer'.
LBRS: Lower Blackrock Spire (instance)
LEEROY: (Also Leeroy'ed, Leeroying.) The act of charging unprepared into combat and causing your party/raid group to be wiped out. This is a reference to the "Leeroy Jenkins" gameplay video circulating online. Common with players who are not native speakers of the language spoken by the server's playerbase, or by people playing irresponsibly for the purpose of causing unrest, like the original Leeroy Jenkins.
Legendary: Legendary items are of extremely high quality, and are color-coded orange to identify their status. These items don't simply drop and are obtained through repeated item gathering in high level raid dungeons and various other raid level quests.
Legolas: Referring to Night Elf Hunters. Refers to their supposed resemblance to the famous elf from The Lord of the Rings.
Link: The act of placing the stats of an item in the trade/party/guild/say channel by shift-clicking the item while the chat bar is open. Commonly used in the trade channel in capital cities while selling, buying, trading, or crafting.
Lock: Abbreviated form of Warlock.
LoH: The Paladin's Lay on Hands spell, which recovers an amount equal to their total hit points; commonly called the "Pally's Extra Life."
Lolladin: See Palla/Pally
LS: Lakeshire, an Alliance town in the Redridge Mountains.
LoS: Line of Sight. Refers to creatures or objects that are immediately visible, rather than hidden behind a wall or other obstacle. Also a term used in spell targeting.
LoS Pull: Refers to the technique of pulling mobs that attack at range by aggroing them, then moving out of their Line of Sight, such as behind a corner. This results in the mob stopping their attack and running to you in order to regain their Line of Sight. Can also be referred to as a "Face Pull" or, even more commonly, as a "Body Pull".
LW: Leatherworking (or leatherworker).

[edit] M

Mara: Maraudon (instance).
Mark: Usually applies to the hunter ability Hunter's Mark. Increases ranged damage on the target, and provides the additional benefit of marking the target out with a large red arrow. Also can be used to refer to MotW, the Druid buff Mark of the Wild.
Main: Refers to the character a player spends the most time on, see also alts.
Main Assist: A player designated to select a target for other players to attack. Usually used in Raids to concentrate damage on one enemy at a time during larger battles.
Main Tank: The character currently in charge of holding onto the most dangerous target in a fight. Usually a Warrior. Mostly used in raids. See also "Off Tank"
MA: See "Main Assist."
Mats: Abbreviation for "materials" needed in a trade recipe or pattern.
MC: Molten Core (raid instance), or Mind Control when referring to spells cast on another player or NPC.
MD: Master Demonologist. Talent in Warlock demonology tree
MH: Menethil Harbor, also called Men Harbor or Meneharb.
ML: Master Looter; A player designated at the time the "Master Looter" looting option is chosen by a group or raid leader. The ML is the only group/raid player able to see and loot green or higher items (depending on the party configuration). The ML has the sole power to distribute these items to individual members of the group/raid. Usually this is done by using the /roll command, with results based upon need (greatest priority) and greed (lesser priority, based on how many also click 'greed'). A dishonest or unscrupulous Master Looter can break a party, so a decision to use this system should involve the entire party.
MM/Marks: Marksman specialization for the Hunter class.
MotW: Mark of The Wild, a druid buff. Also refered to as MoW or Paw (i.e. "Paw please" as a request for the buff) by some. On some servers, "Paw" is lengthened to "Purple Paw Power."
Moo: Common (usually humorous) method of antagonizing the players of tauren characters by typing 'Moo!'. Also, an in-game emote, /moo, that allows players to 'Moo' at each other.
MOTD: Message Of The Day, used in guilds to let all players know what is going on that day.
MT: Most commonly used for Main Tank when in Raids/Instances. Can also mean Mis-Type or Mis-Tell, implying that a message was sent to the wrong channel or wrong player . See Main Tank

[edit] N

Naxx: A shortened name for new raid instance, Naxxramas.
NE: Night Elf.
Nef: Nefarian - The end boss of Blackwing Lair.
Nelf: A contraction of 'Night Elf'.
Neutral Auction House (AH, GAH, NAH): An auction house (see AH) which is open to both Horde and Alliance, as opposed to faction-specific auction-houses. Such auction houses exist in all three Goblin cities (hence the abbreviation GAH) and allow the players of one faction to auction items to the opposing faction, something that is normally not possible.
NR: Nature resistance.
NS: Druid and Shaman's Nature's Swiftness. Can also mean Northshire, where Human players start, or Nightslayer (Rogue Tier 1 Epic Set).
NW: Netherwind armor (Mage Tier 2 Epic Set).

[edit] O

Off Tank: When more than one tank is needed, Off Tanks can be chosen. These are usually warriors, even if protection specced Paladins (Tankadins) and Feral-specced Druids can be used as well due to their high armor. "Offtanking" refers to pulling a mob away from the group and holding it there throughout the fight with the most important mob. See also Main Tank
Org/OG: Orgrimmar (Horde city, and the capital city of the Orc race).
Ony: Used to refer to the raid dragon Onyxia or Onyxia's Lair where she can be found in Dustwallow Marsh.
OH: Refers to Off-hand weapons.
OOMkin: Refers to a druid who has spent his/her talent points in the balance tree and has the balance ultimate, Moonkin form. Moonkin are notorious for running out of mana very quickly (in part due to lousy caster itemization for leather wearers). Also referred to more positively as BoomKIN or Doomkin.
OT: See Off Tank.

[edit] P

Palla/Pally

Paladin. Sometimes referred to as Bubbledins, Lolladins or Tankadins, though these terms are more derogatory in nature. Those who specialize in holy talents are also known as a Healadins.

Pat/Pats

Short for Patrol. A 'patrol' is a group of NPCs that wander a set path (mostly in instances).

Patt

An abbreviation of the word Pattern, which is a recipe for an item that can be crafted by players with the tailoring skill.

Paw

May also be called "Pink Paw", which refers to the druid buff Mark of the Wild. When cast, the Mark of the Wild buff shows up as a paw outlined in pink. May be used in a sentence requesting the buff such as "Toss me a pink paw and a fort."

PL

Party leader. Has access to group-management controls, such as inviting additional members, removing members, loot rules, and converting the party to a raid group, which can hold additional members (up to 40). Also refers to "Power Level" - an activity where a player of a much higher level assists a low level player with quests or instances to gain experience and gear at an accelerated pace.

PoM

Presence of Mind, a mage talent that requires 21 points in the arcane talent tree. Makes the next spell cast instant, with a 3 minute cooldown.

Port

References the Mage ability to open a portal to a capital city. May be used in a sentence requesting a portal, such as "Looking for port to Darn"

Pots

Abbreviated term for Potions.

PPR

Points Per Run. Alternative loot divying system to DKP.

Princess

A reference to a quest in the area where the Humans start. Many people ask to group for "Princess" because it is a particuarly difficult mission.
Also refers to the end boss in the Maraudon Instance.

Prot: Protection talent tree, typically referring to the Warrior class, but can apply to Paladins as well. Warriors choose this spec to make them more durable and effective tanks.
Protowar: Refers to a Protection spec Warrior.
Pug: "Pick up group". A group of players not in the same guild.
Purples: See "Epics."
Purple Paw Power: Used on some servers as another nickname for the Druid buff, Mark of the Wild.
Plate Rogue: Rogues are known for their high DPS, which comes from their ability to wield two weapons at once. Warriors also can wield a weapon in each hand, and in addition can wear Plate armor, which has much higher damage mitigation than anything a rogue can wear. So a "rogue in plate" refers to such a warrior, with his/her talent points almost always placed in the Fury tree, which provides numerous improvements to a warrior dual-wielding.

[edit] Q

QQ: Used as a symbol for crying, often derogatory in meaning ("Why don't you cry about it?"). Used in the World of Warcraft forums in response to posts that are seen as overly 'whiny' (ex. "QQ Learn2Play").

[edit] R

Rag: Ragnaros - The end boss of Molten Core.
Rage: Warrior energy (similar to caster's Mana) which is generated when a warrior inflicts or receives damage and is used by a warrior's special abilities. Also applies to a Druid in Bear or Dire Bear form. Rage slowly dissipates over time when the warrior is out of combat but this process can be slowed down by placing talent points into the Anger Management talent in the Arms tree.
Raggy: Another term used for Ragnaros, the end boss of Molten Core.
Ramp: In the Warsong Gulch PvP battleground, this refers to the sloping upper-level entryway on the far east side of the Alliance base or on the far west side of the Horde base.
Respec: The act of going to a class trainer to unlearn all your talent points. This allows you to reallocate them to change the focus of your character. Cost increases each time you unlearn your talents, starting with 1 gold and capping at 50 gold, with the cost slowly decreasing over time.
RFC: Ragefire Chasm (instance). Located in the Cleft of Shadows in Orgrimmar.
RFD: Razorfen Downs (instance). Located in the Southern Barrens across from RFK near the Great Lift.
RFK: Razorfen Kraul (instance). Located in the Southern Barrens across from RFD near the Great Lift.
Retnoob: A derogatory term for a Retribution specced Paladin.
RH: Razor Hill or Raven Hill (cemetery). Also used to refer to a Relief Hut in the Alterac Valley PvP Battleground.
Robes, The: A nickname for the casting classes in WoW (Priest, Mage, Warlock)
Roll: Refers to rolling for chests or rare items while in a party. /roll generates a random number, between 1 and 100 by default (though this is modifiable with optional parameters to the command), and is used to determine who receives the item. Additionally, /roll is used in Master Looter settings. Also refers to creating a character ("I'm going to roll a tauren"), based on paper-and-dice roleplaying games.
RPPVP (server): Role Playing Player vs Player server. Similar to a role-playing server, but with the additional caveat that a player can be attacked freely in contested zones or if they attack another player that is flagged for PvP combat.
RR: Redridge Mountains.
Ruin: A Warlock talent in the Destruction tree. Mainly used to describe ones spec (i.e. SM/Ruin means Shadowmastery/Ruin specced).

[edit] S

S

Silver (coin). 100 copper = 1 silver. 100 silver = 1 gold.

SB Spam

The tactic of repeatedly using the Warrior spell Shield Block to help mitigate incoming damage. Mostly used when tanking.

SC

Stands for Shadowcraft, the tier 0 set for rogues. Can also be used for the "Scarlet Crusader" side of Stratholme, an instance in the Eastern Plaguelands.

Scholo

Scholomance, a 5-man instance (as of patch 1.10) in the Western Plaguelands.

Scaling

Scaling refers to the increase in an ability's cost as the player's level increases. Also applies to some game systems that raise or lower the difficulty of monster encounters according to the level of the player.

SFK

Shadowfang Keep (instance).

SH

Sentinel Hill, the populated area of Westfall.

Sharding

The act of disenchanting items. More commonly used when a player is retiring a character. "I'm going to shard this character and reroll."

Sheep

To cast the Mage's Polymorph spell on a mob (or an opposing player in PvP), thus turning it into a sheep temporarily (e.g., "sheep the add!"). A common strategy for any party with a mage, though it varies in effectiveness, as any damage done to the 'sheep', even by accident, will cancel the spell and return the mob or player to its normal form. As well, while something is in sheep form, they have increased regeneration. Note that in Patch 1.11 Blizzard introduced other forms of Polymorph including the ability to turn an enemy into a pig or a turtle. However, this is still often referred to as sheeping the target.

Sheep Pull

Pulling a group of monsters by sheeping one of them as the first move on the monster group. A more dangerous approach to pulling.

Shield/Bubble

Short for Power Word: Shield, a priest ability.

SL

Sheep Left. A term used by a mage during combat to notify his fellow party members that they will be casting Polymoprh on the left target. Can also refer to Warlock's 31 point ability in Demonology tree, 'Soul Link'.

Sleep

Refers to the Druid spell Hibernate. ie "Sleep the blue snake."

Sloppy seconds

When someone with a skinning profession follows another player who is killing creatures (and not skinning them) in order to skin them and gain their hides. (Also referred to as "S2nds"). Usually not used when there's only one skinner in a party or raid.

Slut Elf

Derogatory synonym for the yet to be released Blood Elf race, used under the assumption that Blood Elf players will behave in as stereotypically slutty a way as many Night Elf players.

SNES

An acronym for "Slutty Night Elf Stripper." Refers to the act of a player with a female Night Elf character removing all of the character's clothes and typing /dance. So named because the female Night Elf's dance routine is very similar to a lapdance. Has reached epidemic levels on some servers. Usually seen to be immature and puerile. Not to be confused with "Super Nintendo Entertainment System."

SM

Scarlet Monastery, a group of level 35-40 instances for both Alliance and Horde. It is not one main instance, but four separate sub-instances, each one more difficult than the last, played in the order of Graveyard, Library, Armoury, Cathedral.

Also stands for the Warlock Affliction talent Shadow Mastery.

SoC

Seal of Command, a Paladin talent-based skill. Some players use it to refer to Seal of the Crusader (another paladin skill) as well.

Solo

To complete a task individually, without help from others. (i.e. to solo a quest at level 40)

SoS

Swamp of Sorrows, a contested area in east-central Azeroth.

SotC

Seal of the Crusader, a Paladin base skill.

Southshore Tug-of-War

A semi-constant Horde/Alliance battle occurring between the towns of Southshore and Tarren Mill, in which both sides alternately gain and lose ground at somewhat-regular intervals. Alternately, Battle of Hillsbrad.

SP

Stormpike, as in the Alterac Valley PvP battleground.

Spec

Short for specialization. This refers to the talent tree or talent tree type that a player chooses. To 're-spec' is to visit a skill-trainer NPC and 'unlearn' all of the character's current talents, usually to re-distribute the talent points in a different way.

Squishy

Semi-derogatory term for mages, warlocks, and priests, who must wear cloth armor only (and thus are easy, "squishy" targets for enemies). The 'squishy' classes may not consider this an offensive term, since many of them take pride in being 'squishy' and not having to 'hide behind a mound of armor'. Very rarely, this term is also used for the leather wearing classes as well. Sometimes refers to non-elite Mobs in instances.

SR

Shadow resistance. Also for Sheep Right, which is a term used by a mage character to notify his fellow party members that they will be casting Polymorph on the target standing to the right.

SS

Soulstone, a Warlock skill. Soulstones can be made and cast on a party member every 30 minutes. The Soulstone allows the party member to resurrect with a percentage of their health and mana. Often used on Priests, Paladins or Shamans because these classes can then resurrect other players.
Sinister Strike, a bread and butter attack for the rogue class.
Southshore, an Alliance town on Azeroth's northwestern coast. Frequently used as a staging area for Alliance raids on nearby Tarren Mill, or the target of a raid from the latter town.

Strat (or Strath): Stratholme (instance). Stratholme is split into an Undead half(where the end boss is Baron Rivendare), and a living half (where the hardest part is consisting of the player unfriendly faction known as the Scarlet Crusade), so a player will usually specify Strat UD/Strat Baron or Strat Live/Strat Scarlet, respectively.
ST: The Sunken Temple (instance).
Stocks: Abbreviation of Stockades (instance)
STV: Stranglethorn Vale, the southernmost zone on the continent of Azeroth.
SPCD: Sub-Par Cool Down, similar to 3 minute mage. Referred to players who rely on extended timed abilities to win duels or general PvP. Quoted from the infamous Fris.
SW: Stormwind, the Human capital city.
SWP: Shadow Word: Pain, a damage over time spell that deals X amount of Shadow Damage over Y seconds utilized by priests.
Sword and Board: Refers to the common weapon choice for tanking warriors of a one-handed weapon with a shield (any 1H + shield configuration may be referred to as "sword and board" or "SnB", regardless of whether the weapon in question is actually a sword).

[edit] T

Talent points: Begining at level 10, players recieve these points that allow for specialization in three class-specific areas (see talent tree). These points unlock new abilities.
Talent tree: Each class has three different specializations available and each specialization has its own "tree" of talents(in reference to the increasing number of abilities available as you invest more talent points in that area). Some abilities require multiple talent points in those specific areas of specialization in order to unlock them for use. For example, a mage may invest talent points in the Arcane, Fire, and Frost talent trees respectivly.
TB: Thunder Bluff (Tauren capital).
Tick: Constitutes a two second span of time. A player's health and mana regenerate an amount determined by the player's Spirit stat every tick, unless the player is in combat. Also refers to DoTs time periods of damage, usually between 1-3 seconds.
Tier Armor: Specific sets of armor designed for each class that are found in drops from raids. Their are levels of Tier armomr, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. Each 1st tier is the easiest to receive, 2 of the items are bind on equip (belt and bracers), and they bind on pickup's come from the easiest raid instances. Tier 2 and up come from harder raid instances with no bind on equip item, but the set bonus is more powerful.
TM: Tarren Mill, a Horde town in Hillsbrad.
Toon: a player's character or avatar in game
TP: "Teleport", or "Town Portal" (from the Blizzard game 'Diablo'). The process of using a magical means to return to a town. Sometimes used in WoW instead of the WoW-native "hearthstone," "hearthing," or "hearth" (see "hearth"). Also often refers to a mage's Teleport spell, which teleports the mage to the capital cities of his faction. Also used to refer to Tower Point in the Alterac Valley PvP Battleground.
Trash Mob: Refers to non-Boss mobs in instances; generally used more in referring to higher-end instances such as BWL or MC.
TS: Teamspeak, A chat client enabling players to communicate verbally and free up their hands for gaming. Teamspeak and Ventrilo are always employed by guilds for use in 20 and 40 man raids.
TSA: True Shot Aura, buff aura given by the Hunter class.
Tunnel: In the Warsong Gulch PvP battleground, this refers to the subterranean entryway in the center of the Alliance and Horde bases.
Twink/Twinking: Twinking refers to outfitting a character or player with items or other resources that are not normally available to a character of that level. The character/player is then known as a twink. In World of Warcraft, this is most commonly done to level 19 characters to attain an upper hand in the level 10-19 bracket of Warsong Gulch, as it is the lowest-level PvP battleground.

[edit] U

UBRS: Upper Blackrock Spire (instance).
UC: Undercity, a Horde capital.
UD: short for Undead, a player-character race.
ULD/Ulda: Uldaman (instance).
UDS/Backdoor Strat: Stratholme Refers to the Undead instance of Stratholme.

[edit] V

V: Vendor, used in the 'vendor/need' loot system to mean that the rare item that was dropped wasn't needed by the player, but would be sold to a vendor if no one typed "n" for Need. Obsolete since Patch 1.7 implemented "Need before Greed."
Vael: Vaelastrasz the Corrupt - the second boss in Blackwing Lair. On some servers, Vaelstrasz goes under the nickname of "Fred" for unknown reasons
VC: Van Cleef - End boss in the Deadmines. Often used as the abbreviation for the instance, since on some servers, DM is now more commonly used to indicate the Dire Maul instance.
Vent: Ventrilo. A voice-over-IP program similar to TeamSpeak.
VT: Vendor Trash, selling items that wouldn't sell on the AH and/or grey items. Can also refer to Vampiric Touch, a priest talent spell in the Burning Crusade expansion.
VW: Short term for the Warlock's Voidwalker minion.

[edit] W

WC

Wailing Caverns (instance) or Warlord's Command (Onyxia Horde quest).

Can also mean "Wrong Chat" (or "Wrong Channel"), indicating that a player has mis-typed a message.

Wisp: The incorporeal form that the Night Elf (and, possibly, the Blood Elf of the forthcoming 'Burning Crusade' expansion pack) takes when s/he has been killed. Wisps can travel faster than any other class while dead, which makes corpse running (see above) or resurrecting slightly quicker than with any other race. Also, as an April Fool's joke in 2006, Blizzard posted a page declaring Wisps as the new Alliance race for the expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. The joke was regarded by many WoW players to be in poor taste, since Blizzard released the joke on March 31, rather than April 1.
WF: Wind Fury, you get 2 extra swings of your weapon & bonus attack power for the 2 swings. Shaman talent and totem
WoW: World of Warcraft.
WP/WPL: Western Plaguelands.
WSG/WG: Warsong Gulch, a 10-man capture the flag battleground, added in the 1.5 patch.

[edit] X

XL: Refers to Goblin Jumper Cables, and is typically used by classes that do not have any player resurrection abilities. These cables give the player a relatively small chance to resurrect a player.
XR: Crossroads, a Horde town in the middle of the Barrens. It is often a staging point for (and target of) PvP raids.

[edit] Y

/yell: A chat command that goes one level higher than '/say'; analogous to a person shouting, as opposed to speaking in an 'indoor voice'. It appears in the chat window in red text, and many players consider it impolite, or at the very least, annoying. Proper use of /yell is extremely relative, and varies widely by individual. Players using /yell should be cautioned that excessive /yelling will often garner the same response in-game that it would in the real world—either retaliatory yelling or being added to an /ignore list.

[edit] Z

Zerg

To overwhelm an enemy or attack a target in an attempt to win by sheer numbers, rather than skill. Originates in the Blizzard game 'Starcraft', where the 'Zerg' are an alien race that can rapidly mass-produce small, weak units. Also known as 'Weenie Madness', from a Magic: the Gathering strategy of the same name, and functionally identical.

Zerker

A term used to describe a warrior who causes large amounts of damage to their targets. They use either Berserker Stance for increased damage at the cost of getting hit harder, or Battle Stance, which is the default stance. Zerkers tend to have high strength and agility scores to maximize critical strike rates and total damage per second. A zerker also tends to have less health and a lower armor class than other warriors. See also "Rogues in plate". A zerker usually carries two one-handed weapons or a two-handed weapon instead of a one-handed weapon and shield to maximize DPS. (See also: Tank, MT, OT)
Shorthand for "Gurubashi Bezerker" a trash mob (often considered a sub-boss because of their toughness) in the 20 man instance Zul'Gurrub.

Zul/ZF: Zul'Farrak (instance).
ZG: Zul'Gurub (instance).

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