How to Understand World of Warcraft

Because World of Warcraft players are busy people from all walks of life, we tend to gravitate toward using acronyms. There are also a lot of long names for things in World of Warcraft, so acronyms are all the more important. Here is a list of some of the more common terms and acronyms that you are likely to encounter in the course of the game.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Basic Terminology

1. Player or PC: You and all other human-controlled characters.
2. NPC: Non-Player Character, non-human controlled characters.
3. Trainer: NPC who can teach you a profession (mining, leatherworking, herbalism and so on). Can usually be found in large or capital cities, but sometimes in unlikely places like mines or small forest towns.
4. Instance: Also known as a Dungeon. These are areas that spawn for individuals or groups, meaning that each group that enters the instance portal will have a unique dungeon spawned just for them. CAUTION: Instances are almost always populated by Elite monsters that are considerably tougher than normal opponents. They are balanced for a party of 5, meaning they have enough hit points, power and skill proficiency to cause trouble for a group of 5 equivalent level Players. Higher level Players will have an easier time fighting lower level Elite monsters, but remain wary and lower level Players beware!
5. Farming: Refers to collecting large amounts of items (trade items, armor, weapons) in a specific area. Some areas are great for farming specific items. For example, Elwynn Forest and Dun Morogh are great for farming copper ore.
6. Battlefield: A Player vs Player battlefield. You are transported from a capital city (Stormwind, Ironforge, Darnassus, Ogrimmar, Thunder Bluff, Undercity) to one of three battlefields that you select, depending on your preferred mission and character level. Once in the battlefield, you have specific objectives and are marked Player vs Player. You WILL be fighting other Players!
7. Grinding: Doing the same thing over and over, typically level grinding (killing lots and lots of monsters in order to reach the next experience level) or item grinding (doing a specific Dungeon over and over in order to obtain lots of items or a specific item).
8. Guild: A group of Players who have banded together for a specific goal, such as heavy role playing, raid grinding. Guilds offer a chance to meet other players with the same goals as you, other people to fight in dungeons and raids with, and a chance to make friends! You can join an existing Guild or start your own.
9. Tabard: An article of clothing bearing your Guild symbol and color. Can be purchased at the Visitor’s Center in major cities for 1 gold. Some Guilds offer free tabards.
10. Guild Charter: A set of rules and guides (Guild Law) for a Guild that must be signed by 9 other players in order to create a new Guild. This can be found at the Guild Master, who is in the Visitor’s Center of all major cities.

Acronyms

11. WoW: World of Warcraft
12. PvP: Player vs Player
13. PvE: Player vs Environment
14. RP: Role Playing
15. PST: Stands for “psst”, another way of saying “whisper”
16. AFK: Away From Keyboard (unavailable player)
17. WTS: Want to Sell
18. WTB: Want to Buy
19. AH: Auction Hall
20. DE: Disenchant. An ability used by Enchanters to break down unwanted equipment into constituent components that be used to create other items.
21. MATS: Materials, referring to items necessary for item creation.
22. BOP: Bind on Pickup. If you loot one of these items, it becomes soulbound, meaning that the only way you can get rid of it is to either destroy it or sell it to a vendor. It cannot be given away or auctioned.
23. AOE: Area of Effect. Spells like Frost Nova that attack any targets within a designated area.
24. OMW: On My Way.

Place Names

25. SW: Stormwind, capital city of the humans
26. IF: Ironforge, capital city of the dwarves, temporary home of the gnomes
27. WF: Westfall
28. GS: Goldshire
29. SS: Southshore
30. DS: Darkshore
31. STV: Stranglethorn Vale
32. DM: Deadmines (Dungeon)
33. GM: Gnomeregan (Dungeon)
34. SM: Scarlet Monastery (Dungeon)
35. BFD: Blackfathom Deeps (Dungeon)
36. BRD: Blackrock Depths (Dungeon)
37. ULD: Uldaman (Dungeon)
38. ZF: Zul Farrak (Dungeon)
39. ST: Stratholme (Dungeon)
40. ZG: Zul Gurub (Raid Dungeon)
41. AV: Alterac Valley (Pvp Battlefield)
42. WSG: Warsong Gulch (Pvp Battlefield)
43. AB: Arathi Basin (Pvp Battlefield)
44. While these lists are by no means exhaustive, they should help you become familiar with the world much more quickly than having to ask “what does this mean?” every few seconds when being bombarded by unfamiliar terms and acronyms aplenty. Good luck and good hunting!