The various denizens of World of Warcraft are at all times the driving force behind the game. Without the players, enemies, and friendly NPCs the game would have no point at all. It’s difficult to imagine the game without any of them. The most important part of course is the players. Without them we’d never have non-static conversations. They add flavor and utility to the game. You add it too, just by playing, but we often do not like to imagine ourselves as part of the larger horde of game users.

Getting what you want done out of the other players can be difficult. Especially so for those of us who are more introverted than others (meaning that we like to stick to ourselves). It’s true that, outside of the invite-a-friend promo going on right now, it’s best to play WoW solo until you reach the maximum level. However, the can sap a lot of the fun out of it. You might not want to group but purchasing items from other players directly can often benefit you (such as adding the ability to trade or gaining certain services).

This guide is going to help you by explaining the various means of communicating with other players, some basic lingo, and give examples of how to interact. Hopefully, after reading this, you should be better prepared with dealing with the wildly and sometimes crude players in World of Warcraft.

Grouping

Grouping is one of the basic fundamental features and benefits of an MMOG. Grouping allows you to join up with other players and share experience, loot, and gold while allowing you to take on difficult encounters that you may not be able to take alone. Grouping can also be a difficult challenge and can sometimes hinder progress.

The general rule of thumb is that if a quest can be done solo then you should do it solo. Adding in another player on certain quests can make it near impossible to complete in a timely manner. In a quest where you’ll need an item, say 10 bear pelts, then you’ll l have to gain 20 of them. You may kill nearly twice as fast, but the pelts only drop one at a time. If both players do it separately then they can work at getting all 10 at the same time.

If a quest requires group members, something rare for the lower levels after the many patches, then you need to debate if it is worth your time. Some quests may not give an appropriate award for the amount of time and effort (especially when you could say complete 2-3 quests in the same time). Some quests on the other hand are well worth the time. Look at the rewards, the difficulty, and then measure how much time you’re willing to look for others to help.

The best place to get other members for a quest would be the zone that the quest is in. For instance, if you’re in the Badlands and you have a group quest then try the Badlands general chat. Give the quest name (or even link it to chat) then ask if anyone wants to join you and help. For instance, let’s use the (fake) quest name “Murloc Ravagers” that requires 3 people to slay a massive out of control Murloc.

[1. General] [Yourname] lf2m Murloc Ravagers, need a healer and any DPS, have tank, PST.

This may be confusing to someone new, but seasoned players know exactly what is going on here. We’ll break this down so it’s easier to understand.

The first part, “lf2m” is Internet short hand for “looking for two more”.  There are various “looking for…”  phrases that can be placed into two or three acronyms. For instance, LFG stands for Looking For Group, LFM stands for Looking for More, LF (Class) as in LF Mage stands for Looking for Mage, and so on. It should preface your request to let others know what kind of request this is.

Next is the quest name; which is self explanatory. Afterwards you’ll see “need a healer and any DPS, have tank”. This is saying what kind of classes you need. There are three sets of classes: tanks, healers, and DPS. These classes can be broken down as follows (however this list isn’t the end all of everything, sometimes other things work as well).

Tanks: Druids (Feral), Warriors (Protection), Paladins (Protection), Death Knights
Healers: Druids (Restoration), Paladins (Holy), Priests
DPS: All classes that are spec’d to deal damage.

To put simply, tanks hold the aggression of an enemy while healers keep the party alive and DPS does all the damage. DPS stands for “Damage Per Second” and is often used instead of the word damage or damager. See our WoW Glossary for more details.

The last part is “PST” which stands for Please Send Tell. It’s often customary to add that to the end of a request even though it’s assumed that the player would send you a tell. Sometimes though people add in other instructions like “send tell to: (group leader’s name)” when they’re trying to spam for someone else who may be busier.

For instances the same thing happens, except it’s often better to join an existing party forming up than trying to make your own. Simply go to the Looking for Group interface and join up for the instance you’re looking for (but I highly suggest avoid the auto-group setting). You’ll join a LFG channel that you can use to request a spot in a group or find others for the group you may already have going.

We’ll have more coming your way soon, including more on trading items and interacting with some of the more… eccentric denizens of the world. In the mean time, check out our Etiquette Guide for more reading.

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