World of Warcraft Terminology And Lingo Guide should help you whether you’re a new player (noob, newb, or newbie) or returning veteran. Every expansion a host of new players join the world of Azeroth. The WoW fandom basically speaks its own language when playing the game. If you’re a new player, or if you’ve been gone from WoW for a while, maybe you need a reminder as to what common terms and phrases mean.
There are a ton of terms that Warcraft players use. If any WoW lingo is missed within this guide, please feel free to mention it in the comments below. Some terms may be more common in WoW Classic than in retail WoW as they’re basically two different games. Either way, it benefits you as players to understand them. You never know if a term you haven’t seen before may come up while in a raid group.
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World of Warcraft Terminology And Lingo Guide
Trade Chat
Every player has hung out in a major city in the game. If you’re away from the keyboard (AFK) in a capital city (Stormwind, Orgrimmar, etc.), a sanctuary city (Dalaran, Shattrath, or Oribos), or Shrine of Seven Stars or Shrine of Two Moons you’ve seen Trade Chat. The purpose of Trade Chat is to connect players in the same faction who play on the same/connected servers.
Players are supposed to use Trade chat to trade items, but it’s not uncommon to see a lot of trolls in chat. A chat troll is someone who’s talking about general nonsense. It’s also common to see Guild recruitment in Trade. Many players only use Trade Chat if they really need to. Trade Chat is generally not the place to ask for help in the game. You run the risk of chat trolls giving you a hard time. Sometimes a kind player will whisper to you which means they will message you privately. If you need help in WoW, please feel free to examine Wowhead.
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WoW Phrases in Trade Chat
First, in the World of Warcraft Terminology And Lingo Guide, we’re going to examine common terms in Trade Chat. Trade Chat is used in major cities. Every player in the same faction is connected to its Trade Chat. So as long as you’re in a major city then you can view Trade.
WTS – Want To Sell
WTB – Want To Buy
WTG – Want To Give
WTSF – Want To Sell Fast
WTT – Want To Trade
LFR – Looking For Raid
LFG – Looking For Group
LFM – Looking For More (looking for more people to join a group)
PUG – Pick Up Group
BOP – Bind On Pickup (this means an item is soul bound once you receive it)
BOE -Bind On Equip (the item can be traded or sold on AH, but if you equip the item it becomes soul bound)
AH – Auction House
Mats – Materials (this can refer to materials for professions)
BIS – Best In Slot
ilvl – Item Level
Xpac – Expansion
NPC – Non-player character (examples include quest givers and merchants)
Nerf – when developers change things in the game and make them less effective
AH flipping – buying low, but selling high on the Auction House
FP – Flight Path
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Trade Chat Continued
GL – Guild Leader
GM – Game Master or Guild Master (It’s a common World of Warcraft terminology and lingo term but it depends on the context. If they’re talking about Blizzard Entertainment they’re referring to the Game Masters who oversee and do customer service for the game. If the player is talking about their guild then they’re referring to their Guild Master.)
PTR – Public Test Realm (The public test realm is available to all players. Blizzard uses the public test realm to test new content before they push it to Live.)
Live – World of Warcraft Active Servers (This is the “active or Live” game, which means it’s not on a beta server or public test realm. It’s the version of the game you’re playing.)
PvE – Player Vs. Environment
PvP – Player Vs. Player
Xmog– Transmog
WDYM – What Do You Mean?
Vanilla – refers to the original World of Warcraft from 16 years ago.
Classic – refers to the version of Vanilla WoW which is currently available to play.
WoW – World of Warcraft
FFXIV – this is an acronym for Final Fantasy 14 which is an MMO developed by Square Enix. It’s considered one of WoW’s biggest competitors and sometimes WoW players will talk about/compare the games.
MMO/MMORPG – Mass-multiplayer online role-playing game (that’s the type of game WoW and FFXIV are, and it means that a lot of people from all over the world can play the game together online)
Races
BE/Belf – Blood Elf
Cow – Tauren
NE/Nelf – Night Elf
UD – Undead
Classes
DK – Death Knight
Boomkin – Druid
Paly – Paladin
Lock – Warlock
DH – Demon Hunter
Shamies – Shaman
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Expansion Abbreviations
Now, we’re going to look at common World of Warcraft terminology and lingo guide for expansions.
Vanilla/Classic – The original version of WoW before expansions. Vanilla was released 16 years ago.
BC – The Burning Crusade which was the first expansion.
WotLk/WOTLK – Wrath of the Lich King was the second expansion.
CATA/Cata – Cataclysm was the third expansion.
MOP – Mists of Pandaria was the fourth expansion.
WOD – Warlords of Draenor was the fifth expansion.
LEG/Leg/Legion – Legion was the sixth expansion.
BFA/BfA – Battle for Azeroth was the seventh expansion.
Shadowlands – this refers to the Shadowlands the eighth and current expansion.
Dungeon And Raid Group Sayings
DoT – Damage over Time
HoT – Healing over Time
Spec – This refers to the current talents for your class. An example is being an Unholy Death Knight with Unholy being the spec.
Res – Resurrect
AoE – Area of Effect (area of effect attacks include examples like the Blizzard attack for a Mage or the Volley attack for Hunters)
CD – Cooldown
OoM – Out of Mana (this phrase is more common in WoW Classic)
LoS – Line of Sight (in a dungeon or raid it means to get out of the enemies “line of sight”, but it can also mean you’re out of the Healers “line of sight” and they can’t heal you)
Int– Intellect buff
Mob – enemies in dungeons or raids
DPS– Damage Per Second
Sim – Simulation program (this common World of Warcraft terminology and lingo guide, is a program or website like raidbots.com which will run a scan on your character and tell you what gear and talents will give you the best stats like the best DPS)
Toon – Another name for your playable character
Wipe – This means the whole dungeon or raid group died
Lust/BL – refers to the spells bloodlust, heroism and ancient hysteria (these empower the party and give everyone more strength for a short period of time)
Lock Candy/Cookies – this refers to Warlock health stones which they provide to group members in a dungeon or raid.
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Dungeon And Raid Group Common Terms Continued
AFK/AFC – away from keyboard/computer
Stack – this means to stand on top of each other (usually the tank) while we fight a boss
Soak – this means to “soak” damage (an example is having to stand in glowing pools to stop them from wiping the whole group)
MB – Mana Break (more common in WoW Classic)
CC – Crowd Control (you do this by using stuns and slows on targets)
QQ – Cry
Lock out – you’re saved to a dungeon/raid until the next Tuesday’s reset
Twink – refers to a low-level character with the best gear for their level
Aggro – the tank holds the mobs’ attention while their group members attack
Proc – this is when your spells and attacks do a burst of damage because you made critical hits
BRB – Be right back
BRT – be right there
OMW – on my way
Bio – restroom break
IRL – in real life
GG – good game
Pat – Patrol (some dungeons or raids have roaming mobs)
Huntard – a phrase to describe a bad hunter
Nuke – kill as quickly as you can
Kite -this is when you force a mob to follow you without taking damage
GCD – Global Cool Down (some of our attacks may take seconds or minutes to reload before we can use them again)
MT – Main Tank
OT – Off Tank (The second tank in a raid group. Both tanks share aggro in the encounter.)
RNG – Random Number Generator
XP – Experience
MT – Mis-type or mis-tell (it means a player typed a message in the wrong chat channel.)
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Abbreviations For Dungeons, Raids, And Major Cities
This section will examine World of Warcraft Terminology for major cities, dungeons, and raids. These terms are important to know if you’re interested in joining a PUG (pick up group) or queue in LFR (looking for raid). Often times players won’t spell out what they mean to save time. If they’re typing the message in trade chat it’s helpful because they can get their point across faster.
Major Cities
SW – Stormwind
IF – Ironforge
Org – Orgrimmar
UC – Undercity
TB – Thunderbluff
Darn – Darnassus
Dal – Dalaran
Shat – Shattrath City
Exo – Exodar
SMC – Silvermoon City
Dungeons
VC – Deadmines
DM – Dire Maul
SM – Scarlet Monastery
BRD – Blackrock Depths
Strat – Stratholme
RFC – Ragefire Chasm
WC – Wailing Caverns
BC – Blackrock Caverns
Scholo – Scholomance
SFK – Shadowfang Keep
RFD – Razorfen Downs
RFK – Razorfen Kraul
Raids
Raiding is one of the most fun activities to do in WoW. Joining a raid team takes commitment, but once you’ve found your tribe it’s so worth it. A great time to join a raid team is at the beginning of a new expansion. The whole player base is starting the game on equal footing. Everyone has to reach the level cap and gear up their character. So if you’re interested in joining a raid team, be on the lookout for guilds that are recruiting in trade chat.
ICC – Icecrown Citadel
BoD – Battle of Dazar’alor
DS – Dragon Soul
MC – Molten Core
Uld – Ulduar
ToT – Throne of Thunder
BT – Black Temple
HoF – Heart of Fear
SoO – Siege of Orgrimmar
FL – Firelands
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Battle Grounds And Common Abbreviations Used
Common World of Warcraft terminology and lingo terms used in battlegrounds. If you’re new to the game then don’t be afraid to try out battlegrounds. A battleground is where players face off in a faction conflict. So if you’re in the Alliance then you’ll be fighting the Horde and vice versa. A good team can achieve victory with good communication and knowledge of how to play their classes.
Battle Grounds
AB – Arathi Basin
WSG – Warsong Gulch
ToK – Temple of Kotmogu
DG – Deepwind Gorge
TBfG – Battle for Gilneas
AV – Alterac Valley
EotS – Eye of the Storm
IoC – Isle of Conquest
SotA – Strand of the Ancients
SM – Silvershard Mines
TP – Twin Peaks
Battle Grounds
BG/BGs – Battlegrounds
CTF/CAP – Capture the Flag
PvP – Player vs. Player combat
Flagged – this means a player has become marked for PvP combat.
HK – Honorable Kill (this refers to a player-killing a member of the opposing faction.)
Killing Blow – The final killing blow on another player.
Kek – LOL (when a Horde players types “LOL” an Alliance player reads it as “Kek”)
World of Warcraft Terminology And Lingo Guide
Hopefully, this World of Warcraft terminology and lingo guide was helpful. Every term in the game wasn’t included because there are so many. The goal is to list some of the most common terms and phrases. If you notice anything missing from this guide, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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If you’re new to WoW then check out these helpful articles: What’s the difference between WoW Classic and Retail WoW, the seven most-exciting starter zones in World of Warcraft, eleven must-have ground mounts in World of Warcraft, the best ways to gain reputation in WoW, and how to make gold in WoW Classic.
Thank you for hanging out at my Hearth.
Happy Hunting,
Spyells