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World Of Warcraft Glossary

The World of Warcraft (WoW) can be a very confusing place. As with any large game, and especially any Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) there are a veritable ton of acronyms and terminology that is used by its players. This can be very daunting to the new player, and can even be confusing to many veterans that simply can not remember all the terms.

That's where this guide steps in. It is a collection of all common terms an acronyms found in WoW.

To find any term, simply go to the page that has its starting letter and either scroll down to it or press CTRL+F to bring up your find window and type in what you are looking for.

#'s

Term

Description

10man Refers to any 10 man raid instance. This includes the level 60 Upper Blackrock Spire, Karazhan and Zul'Aman. 1H Short for one handed weapon. This describes any weapon that is carried in and fought with using one hand. 1v1 This describes a one on one duel or PvP fight.To activate a duel you simply need to select the opponent, then right click on their avatar at the top of the screen and select duel, then wait for them to accept. 20man Refers to any 20 man raid instance. While not as common now due to the move to 25 person raids with the release of the Burning Crusade, the originals are still there such as The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and Zul'Gurub. 25man Refers to any 25 man raid instance. These instances where added as the raid instances for the Burning Crusade. They include Gruul's Lair, Serpentshrine Caverns and more. They are considered the progression raids for Burning Crusade players. 2H Short for two handed weapon. This describes any weapon that is carried and fought with using both hands. 40man Refers to the original World of Warcraft raids that required 40 people to complete. These included Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and more. 5man Refers to a five player instance or group as opposed to a larger raid group. Not as common now that most instances do not allow raids to enter them at all.

A

Term

Description

AB Arathi Basin, a 15 person battleground found in the Arathi Highlands. Ability

Abilities are things that characters or items can do that are not spells. They are also sometimes called powers or skills. The main difference from a spell to an ability is that a spell will belong to a school of magic such as fire, shadow or frost.

Some examples of abilities are professions, lockpicking, backstab, tracking, etc.

Add This is really just a way to say that you have gotten an additional MOB. The reason for getting the add is not really important, only that an extra MOB is now involved in combat. AFK Away from Keyboard. By typing this or using the /afk command, you are letting players know that you are going to be away from your computer. It is common to see messages such as "AFK 2 min" when in a group, this means the player is leaving the computer for the next few minutes. Aggro Aggro is short for aggression, but means a lot more that that. What it means in actual fact is that the player being referred to in a statement like "The tank has aggro" is that the tank has enough threat on the MOB that he is its target. Aggro Lock This is a term to describe when the tank has enough threat on a MOB that there is no realistic way another player will pull the MOB off of him. Aggro Radius This is the distance at which a MOB will aggro you just by seeing you. While this can vary by design on various MOBs or Bosses it is generally 20 yards if the MOB is the same level as you are. This distance gets shorted by roughly 1 yard per level higher than the MOB you are, or longer if you are a lower level. The upper maximum radius seems to be about 40 yards, and the minimum is the combat radius of 5 yards. Agi This refers to your agility statistic. Agility affects your attack power, critical strike chance and dodge ability. AH Refers the to Auction Houses, located in all major cities in Azeroth, although not in the Outlands. AI Arcane Intelligence, a mage's spell that raises the targets intelligence statistic for a set about of time. Alt

Generally refers to any character that you have that is not the one you play the most often. Usually also refers to any character that is not your highest level character, although many players stop playing a high level character and start a new main character and then do not refer to it as an alt.

AoE Area of Effect, commonly referring to a spell or event that effects everyone in a specific area. Such as a mage's blizzard spell that hits every enemy within 15 yards. AofM This refers to the hunter ability called Aspect of the Monkey. This ability increases your dodge ability by granting you an additional 8% dodge. A hunter can only have one aspect active at a time. AotC This refers to the hunter ability called Aspect of the Cheetah. This ability speeds up the hunters movement by 30% but hunters that are hit will be stunned. A hunter can only have one aspect active at a time. AotH This refers to the hunter ability called Aspect of the Hawk. This ability raises the hunter's ranged attack power by a set amount per level of the ability. A hunter can only have one aspect active at a time. AotP This refers to the hunter ability called Aspect of the Pack. This is essentially a group version of AotC and works in a similar way. This ability speeds up the hunter and all his parties movement by 30% but if they are hit they will be stunned. A hunter can only have one aspect active at a time. AP Short for Attack Power, or the bonus damage you are going to gain from strength, agility and / or other bonuses. Comes in either ranged or melee varieties, although usually AP refers to melee and RAP to ranged. AQ Short for Ahn'Qiraj which houses 2 level 60 raid instances. It houses the 20 man Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and the 40 man Temple of Ahn'Qiraj raids. AQ20 Short form for the 20 man raid, the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. AQ40 Short form for the 40 man raid, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. AR Short for Arcane Resistance, which is the number value use to calculate how much arcane damage you will not take when hit with an arcane based magic attack. Attack Power Attack power is generated from strength, agility and other bonuses and / or abilities. Attack Power increases your base damage by 1 point for every 14 attack power. Attack Speed Attack speed is the time in between your attacks with a weapon. It is found on the weapon you are attacking with and then can be modified by other abilities or bonuses, such as a quiver effecting the attack speed of a bow. AV Alterac Valley, a 40 person battleground located in northern Hillsbrad. It can be entered into from that zone or from the battlemasters in the major cities.

B

Term

Description

Barrens Chat This is a WoW specific slang term that is used to describe any chat channel that is way of topic, bust, insulting and inane. It refers to the Barrens zone chat channel which is the zone in which Horde players spend most of their time from 10-20. The zone is so busy at times that the chat channel is almost unusable due to jokes and off topic chatter. Battlegroup A battlegroup is a cluster of servers that shared one set of battleground and arena servers. They were first put into place in patch 1.12 and allow players to PvP against players other than those on their own server. BB Short for Booty Bay, a neutral city on the southern tip of the Eastern Kingdoms in Azeroth. BC Short form for the Burning Crusade, World of Warcrafts first expansion. The Burning Crusade added many new features and areas to the game including all of the Outlands and the Blood Elf and Draenei races. BE Short form for Blood Elf. This was the new Horde race added in the Burning Crusade expansion. BEM Short form for the Blade's Edge Mountains, a mountainous zone in the Outlands mainly populated by ogres. BF Short form for the Blood Furnace, which is the second instance in the Hellfire Citadel. It is a 5 man instance meant for level 60 characters. BFD Short for Blackfathom Deeps, a 5 man low level instance, meant for players 20-30. It is located in the northwestern corner of Ashenvale. BG Battlegrounds.  This can be any of the battlegrounds established such as the Eye of the Storm. Bind

This has two possible meanings:

Most commonly referring to the bind status of an item, such as bind on pickup or bind on equip. Also refers to where you are bound for your hearthstone. You can bind yourself to an city or in of your faction. In this way you travel back to that in when you activate your hearthstone. Sometimes called your Bind Point. Bio Biology break or going to the bathroom. When in a group it is polite to let them know you are going to be away from the computer and unable to play. To do this you normally let them know that you are going AFK (Away from Keyboard) or taking a Bio break. Block A Block is what a Warrior, Paladin or Shaman do with their shield. A block absorbs some of the melee damage inflicted, but can still pass damage on to the character if any is remaining after subtracting the block value. Blue

Has two meanings, one in game and one out of game.

In game blue refers to any item that is color coded to be blue or rare. Items are available in color ranks ranging from gray, white, green, blue, purple and orange. Blue items are normally received from difficult quests or from instance bosses. Out of game, blue refers to an official response from a Blizzard employee in their forums. This is because the forums are color coded to show their messages in blue font. BM

This has two possible meanings:

BM in reference to a hunter means a Beast Mastery spec'ed hunter. BM in reference to an instance, refers to the Black Morass, a 5 man instance located in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. The instance is meant for level 68-70 level players. In it you travel back in time to the opening of the Dark Portal and try to prevent interference in the time line. Body Pull This is a pull that comes about due to the player moving close enough to a MOB to enter their aggro radius and get them to attack. BoE This refers to all loot or equipment that is Bind on Equip, meaning that it can freely be traded and handed back and forth between players until someone equips it. At that point it becomes soulbound to that player. BoK This refers to the Paladin blessing ability called Blessing of Kings. This ability grants a 10% increase to all character statistics. Can also refer to the greater version of the blessing. A player may only be affected by one blessing at a time per paladin. BoM This refers to the Paladin blessing ability called Blessing of Might. This ability grants an increase to the characters strength statistics. Can also refer to the greater version of the blessing. A player may only be affected by one blessing at a time per paladin. Boomkin This refers to a druid that has specialized in the balance talent tree for abilities that boost their spell casting ability, and have the moonkin form. BoP

This refers to all loot or equipment that is Bind on Pickup, meaning that as soon as someone picks it up it becomes soulbound to that player.

BoS This acronym can be confusing as it can refer to several different abilities but most commonly refers to the Paladin blessing ability called Blessing of Salvation. This ability reduces the threat generated by the affected player by 30%. Can also refer to the greater version of the blessing or the Paladin abilities Blessing of Sacrifice or Blessing of Sanctuary. Because Salvation is far more common though, the others are normally spelled out. A player may only be affected by one blessing at a time per paladin. Boss

Boss refers to the main characters in an instance or in the world (in the case of outdoor raid bosses). A Boss always has a unique name and will not be found anywhere else. Bosses are normally immune to crowd control and come in three basic types: mini bosses, bosses, and raid bosses.

Mini bosses are found in instances and are used as gate keepers or event fights.

Regular bosses are the main characters in normal 5 man instances. They usually have special abilities that require you to use specific tactics that you need to use to defeat them.

Raid Bosses are the most difficult MOBs in WoW. They do not show as having a level at all, instead they show as having a skull level. This means that they act as a boss 3 levels higher than you are for combat purposes. They have even more special abilities that normal bosses, but generally drop even better loot.

BoU

This refers to all loot or equipment that is Bind on Use, meaning that it can freely be traded and handed back and forth between players and even equipped. However, as soon as it is used for the first time, it will be bound to that player.

There are very few BoU items in the game, the only really numerous type of BoU item is small pets.

BoW This refers to the Paladin blessing ability called Blessing of Wisdom. This ability grants an increase to the character mana regeneration ability. The amount of mana regenerated by the blessing varies by the blessings level. Can also refer to the greater version of the blessing. A player may only be affected by one blessing at a time per paladin. BRB Short for Be Right Back. This is is used when you are running off to do something in game, but don't need or want the rest of the group following you. It can also be used as al alternative to AFK. BRD Short for Blackrock Depths, which is a 5 man instance meant for level 50-56 players. It is located in Blackrock Mountain and is one of the longer instances in Azeroth. At the end of the instance you can find the entrance to Molten Core, and you need to fight your way there to become attuned to it. BRS Short for Blackrock Spire, which is further subdivided into Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire. Each is usually done as a separate instance run as lower requires only 5 level 55-60 people, while Upper requires 10 level 60's. BS Refers to the profession of Blacksmithing. Usually blacksmiths are also miners to feed the ore requirement of the profession. BT Short for Black Temple, which is a 25 man raid located in Shadowmoon Valley. It was added in patch 2.1 and houses the Tier 6 raid sets, and Illidan Stormrage. Bubble

This term refers to two separate things and its meaning bust be taken from the context it was used in.

Bubble could refer to how many "bubbles" or little blocks left in your experience bar before you gain your next level Bubble also refers to the paladin classes spells Blessing of Protection, Divine Shield and Diving Protection Buff

Buff is slang term for a temporary beneficial effect that affects your character or any other. Buff's come in many different varieties that either boost abilities, stats, resistance's or provide some other beneficial effect such as healing over time or a shield from damage.

Buffs can be dismissed by right clicking on them in your buff list in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Burn To Burn or Burn Down a MOB is to have the player or party put out as much damage as possible to kill the MOB as quickly as possible. BWL Short for Blackwing Lair, which is a 40 man raid located at the top of Blackrock Mountain. It was the second 40 man raid implemented in WoW and houses Nefarian the Dragon as the final boss and the tier 2 raid set.

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