Jargon, decoded

The glossary

304 words from World of Warcraft, MMOs, esports and every game chat you have ever been flamed in — what each one means, and how people actually say it. Every entry has its own link, so you can send it to the friend who just asked what a twink is.

Word of the day

AV

PvP

Also: Alterac Valley

Alterac Valley: 40 v 40 across a whole zone, ends when a faction boss dies. Can last hours or minutes depending on the era.

“AV weekend, honor is doubled, everyone's queueing.”

See also: Battleground, Honor

10 of 304 words for “Cap”

Cap
Gaming slang
A limit: level cap, hit cap, honor cap. Also 'capped': you've reached it.
“Honor capped for the week.”
See also: Hit cap, Max level
Hit cap
WoW
The amount of +hit after which extra hit does nothing. 9% against raid bosses (16% for spells) in vanilla-style games; 5% against players.
“Don't stack past the hit cap, swap that ring for crit.”
“Casters need 16% to be capped on bosses.”
See also: Crit, Equivalence points
AB
PvP
Also: Arathi Basin
Arathi Basin: 15 v 15, hold bases to gain resources. First to the cap wins.
“Never fight on the road in AB, fight on the flag.”
See also: Battleground
Battleground
PvP
Also: BG
An instanced PvP map with objectives: Warsong Gulch (capture the flag), Arathi Basin (hold bases), Alterac Valley (kill the boss).
“Queue for a battleground while we wait for the tank.”
See also: WSG, AB, AV, Honor
Breakpoint
WoW
A stat threshold where something changes — the hit cap, enough haste for an extra tick, enough crit for a talent to matter.
“The breakpoint is 9% hit; past that it's worthless.”
See also: Hit cap, Theorycraft
Duel
PvP
One-on-one consensual PvP, usually outside a capital city. The oldest way to settle who's better.
“Duel outside Orgrimmar, no potions.”
See also: World PvP
Max level
MMO
The level cap. 60 in vanilla and Classic.
“Max level in a week, then the raid grind.”
See also: Endgame, Ding
WSG
PvP
Also: Warsong Gulch
Warsong Gulch: 10 v 10 capture the flag. The twink bracket's home.
“Three caps to win WSG, and someone has to defend.”
See also: Battleground, EFC, Flag carrier
Clutch
Gaming slang
Winning a situation that looked lost, especially alone and at the end.
“Clutched the flag cap at 1% health.”
See also: Choke
EZ
Gaming slang
Easy. Said after winning, to annoy.
“EZ clap, three caps in six minutes.”
See also: GG

WoW

World of Warcraft, especially vanilla, Classic and Forever.

79 words

Raiding & dungeons

Group PvE: pulls, loot rules, wipes and parses.

47 words

PvP

Battlegrounds, duels, twinks and world PvP.

31 words

MMO

Words shared by every online RPG.

47 words

Esports

Competitive play, broadcasts and the meta.

21 words

Gaming slang

What people say in every chat, every game.