World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

We all know how hard a new game can be to learn. Now imagine all the poor players that are coming into the World of Warcraft having never player a MMORPG before! I was in this situation when the beta came opened up. I was lost in the game with people referring to all sorts of odd terms. Most of the time, I had no idea what they were talking about. No one should be that lost when they come into a game, so I started creating a dictionary of terms that I came across. I talked to Ratboy about this and he had experienced similar issues when starting out, and volunteered to help fill out the dictionary.

If anyone else has more information, please forward it to Messiah or Ratboy @ tentonhammer.com.

Add - Announces that another monster (MOB) has joined into the combat, usually due to aggro radius.

AFK - Away from Keyboard. Let others know that even though you are online, you are busy for a minute and will likely not respond right away.

Aggro - When monsters get aggressive towards you, meaning they attack you. Monsters get mad at you by either coming in to their aggro range or by causing threat while near them.

Aggro range - The range at which monsters will be able to aggro (or attack) you.

DOT - Damage over time. Most common being Warlock spells that inflict X damage over Y time.

Buff - A spell cast on player or MOB that benefits them. An example of a buff is the priests inner fire spell.

De-Buff - A spell that causes the target to be lessened. An example is a spell that reduces armor class.

DPS - Damage per second.

DD - Direct Damage.

LFG - Looking for group. Usually used when you are a single player looking to join a group to adventure. The usual syntax would be: XX Level XXCLASSXX LFG for XXMISSION NAMESXX.

LFM - Looking for Member. Used when you are in or have a group and are looking for an additional member or two. The usual syntax is: LFM for XXMISSIONXX prefer XXCLASSXX.

LOL - Laugh out Loud. To show that you think someone said or did something funny.

LOM - Low on Mana. A warning from a caster or healer that they are getting low on mana.

MOB - Short for Mobile Object. Refers to monsters, NPC's and other computer controlled characters in the game. Generally used to refer to monsters though.

NPC - Non Player Character. Computer controlled characters in the game. Generally refers to vendors and non aggressive characters.

OOM - Out of Mana. A warning from a caster or healer that they are out of mana.

Pop - Another term for MOBs spawning. I believe shortened from repopulate.

Pull(er)(ing) - The character in the party that is responsible for pulling or drawing in enemy MOBs. This character tries to control the rate at which enemy MOBs are brought to the party to deal with.

PvE - Player versus Environment. Mainly combat between players and MOBs.

PvP - Player versus Player. Combat between players.

Spawn - When MOBs re-appear in the world they are said to spawn. Can also refer to a spawn point.

Spawn point - Where a MOB or item re-appears in the world.

Tank - A role that a character can play in the game. The tanks role is to wade into combat and absorb damage and aggro and to generate threat to keep Mobs off of other players.

Tap (Tag) - To hit a monster before anyone else. Once tapped or tagged the monster counts as your kill regardless of who kills it.

Tic - Another saying for damage over time (DOT). Presumably referring to the ticking of a clock.

Threat - This is generated by causing damage or healing. The amount of threat you generate effects monsters attacking you. Relates to Aggro.

Train - A monster train. Usually initiated when a player is outnumbered and decides to run. Players refer to the row of monsters chasing behind as the train.

WTB - Wanting to Buy. Used to advertise items you are looking for in chat.

WTS - Wanting to sell. Used to advertise items for sale in chat.