A WoW Acronym and Phrase Guide: From PUGS to Aggro

New to World of Warcraft? Then you may be somewhat--if not extremely--confused by some of the phrases or acronyms used by its players. Here are some commonly used WoW acronyms and phrases that can help get you acquainted with this game.

WoW Acronym and Phrase Guide (In alphabetical order)

AFK: This acronym means "Away from keyboard". WoW players commonly use this acronym more than BRB (be right back), which sees more use in other MMORPGs.

Aggro: In WoW slang, aggro means that you have attracted--and caused--an enemy to attack you, whether it's because you attacked the enemy or stood too close to it. According to WoWWiki.com, the person that is the closest to the enemy with the highest threat level will get the aggro. If a tank is having trouble keeping the enemies engaged on attacking him, he might say "Let me get aggro first before you DPS." Certain spells or abilities can increase aggro with a certain enemy; conversely, some spells can also decrease aggro (such as Soulshatter, a warlock ability).

AH: A WoW acronym for "auction house". Each faction (Horde and Alliance) has its own auction house, where items can be auctioned off for gold. Many WoW players make the bulk of their gold by using the auction house to sell their wares or materials.

Ally: Short for "Alliance", a faction in WoW. The night elves, gnomes, humans, dwarves and worgens belong to this faction.

Alt: Short for "alternate character". This is a character you play when you're not playing your main character, or main. WoW players may have several alts.

AOE: This stands for "Area of Effect", a type of spell that damages multiple enemies within a given radius. Rain of Fire, a warlock spell, is an example of an AOE. These spells are more effective against three or more enemies, reducing the time it takes to kill them.

Belf: Short for "Blood elf", a playable Horde race in WoW.

Bio: This means a WoW player has to go to the bathroom. It is commonly used in instances to warn group members you're going to be away from the computer (AFK).

BOE: This stands for "Bind on equip". This is used to describe an item that will bind to your character when you equip it. It cannot be sold to another WoW player or auctioned off once it is equipped.

BOP: This stands for "Bind on pickup", used to describe items (usually armor) that 'bind' to your character when it is looted from a dead enemy. Bind on pickup items cannot be auctioned at the Auction House or sold to another WoW player.

Buff: A spell you can cast that temporarily improves the stats of your character or group. Battle Shout, for example, is a buff that increases the attack power of all group members for two minutes.

CC: This acronym stands for "Crowd Control", used to define spells or abilities that limit the enemy's ability to move or attack. Crowd Control helps you slow down or eliminate an enemy's ability to kill you, and is essential for preventing a total group kill (wipe). Examples of Crowd Control spells include Charm, Fear, Stun, Polymorph and Hex.

DOT: A WoW acronym for "Damage over time", used to describe spells that cause periodic damage on an enemy. Bane of Agony, Immolate or Shadow Word: Pain are examples of DOTs.

DPS: A WoW acronym for "Damage per second". DPS is used to describe how much damage a character does per second, which can be tracked by using the Recount add on. DPS is also used to describe damage-dealing characters in a group. Warlocks, mages, shadow priests and rogues are examples of DPS characters.

Drop: Items obtained from a dead enemy while looting it. WoW players can loot by right-clicking on the corpse.

Grinding: In WoW slang, grinding means to kill enemies over and over in a certain area in order to collect XP and level your character. WoW players often grind while completing related quests in the area.

Heals: Short for "healer", a player whose primary job is to heal the group.

HOT: This stands for "Heal over time", which describes healing spells that periodically heal players over a period of time. Renew and Rejuvenation are examples of HOTs.

IF: Short for Ironforge, the capital city of the dwarves.

Instance: This word is commonly used to describe dungeons, arenas or other enclosed areas in World of Warcraft. Instances usually feature tough enemies and obstaces to complete, leading to several bosses. Players often use instances to level up because of the potential to get more XP compared to questing or grinding. Instances also award rare or epic weapons, armor or items, which can be used to make your character stronger.

Mats: The shortened form of materials. To create certain weapons, armor or other items in the game, you may need to use several mats, or materials. For example, a WoW player might post "Can make so-and-so item, your mats plz." This means the player can create the item for you, provided you give the person the materials for creating it.

Lock: The shortened form of warlock, a fighting class in World of Warcraft. Warlocks use damage over time (DOT) spells, minions, crowd control spells and fire or shadow spells to damage enemies.

Loot/looting: When you kill an enemy and right click on it, you will have the option to take gold and any items left behind by the corpse. This is called 'loot'. Looting is the process of taking the gold and/or items from the corpse.

Main: Short for "main character", the main character a WoW player uses.

Mob: A 'mob' is used to describe an enemy (or monster, although not always) that you want to kill.

Nelf: Short for "Night elf", a playable Alliance race in WoW.

NPC: An acronym for "Non-playable character", used to describe characters in the game that are not played by other WoW players. Quest givers, townspeople and innskeepers are examples of NPCs.

Org: Short for Orgrimmar, the capital city of the orcs.

Pally: The shortened form of paladin, a fighting class in World of Warcraft. Paladins are able to damage enemies though physical attacks and spells, tank and heal. They are considered a hybrid class because they can assume a variety of roles (healer, tank or DPS).

PST: Short for "Please send tell (whisper)". In trade chat rooms, WoW players usually ask other players to PST if they want to buy items from them. For example, a player selling wand transformations might say "Selling bat, skelly and wisp wands for 10g, pst."

PUG: An acronym for "Pickup group", or several random players grouped together to do an instance or raid. WoW's Dungeon Finder system is used to help you join a PUG group, speeding up the time it takes to find a group to complete an instance.

Questing/Quests: A term used to describe completing numerous quests in a certain area. Quests are challenges or objectives obtained from NPCs, which can award XP, gold or items.

Random: Whereas PUG refers to a group of randomly selected people, a random refers to a randomly selected instance. WoW's Dungeon Finder helps people find a PUG group to complete a random instance, hence the name random.

Raid: This refers to a group that can hold anywhere from 5 to 40 players. Raids are formed to help players overcome extremely difficult dungeouns or achievements, which would otherwise be impossible to overcome in a regular group. Certain instances, such as Karazhan, can only be completed with a raid. These instances are commonly called raid instances.

Rez/rezz: The shortened form of "resurrection". If a player dies, he or she may ask to be revived via resurection. Only some classes have to ability to revive characters, such as paladins and priests.

Shammy: Short for "Shaman", a playable class in WoW. Like paladins, shammies are a hybrid class, meaning they can assume more than one role. Shammies can heal, deal spell-based damage or cause melee-based damage.

Soulbound: This term describes items that are 'bound' to your character. When you equip a BOE item, the item will become 'soulbound' to your character, becoming your property only to use.

SS: A WoW acronym for "Soulstone", an item created by warlocks. When a soulstone is put on a group member, it will rez the member if he or she dies. In groups, warlocks usually put a SS on a healer class so the healer can quickly rez and continue to heal if he or she is killed.

SW: Short for Stormwind, the capital city of the humans.

Tank: In dungeons (or alternatively, instances), people who absorb damage from enemies and prevent them from attacking other players is called a tank. A tank's job is to use spells or abilities that encourage enemies to hit him or her, so that the other party members can use spells to damage and kill them. Warriors and paladins often serve as good tanks in instances.

TB: A commonly used acronym for Thunder Bluff, the capital city of the taurens.

UC: Short for Undercity, the capital city of the undead.

Vendor: This is an NPC who buys and sells items to WoW players, such as a food and drink vendor. WoW players also commonly use the word to say they want to sell something to a vendor (such as "I'm going to vendor these drops").

Wipe: A common WoW acronym used when an entire group is killed, which can occur from enemy ambushes, a group member failing to do his or her job correctly or other situations that make it impossible to overpower the enemy. A wipe is rarely ideal, and can cause some frustration because of lost progress. A good example of a "wipe" is the famous Leeroy Jenkins incident.

XP: A WoW acronym for experience points. Gaining enough experience points can increase your character's level. XP can be gained by completing quests, killing enemies or instancing.

Sources:
"Aggro" (WowWiki.com; accessed October 26, 2010)