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 “Comp”

Comp
Esports
Also: Composition
Team composition: which classes or characters a team fields.
“Their comp is two healers and three warriors, we can't out-damage it.”
See also: Meta, Draft
Build
WoW
A complete plan for a character: talents, gear and how you play it. A shared build is a link.
“Send me your build.”
“This is the standard 31/8/12 Mortal Strike build.”
See also: Spec, Talent, BiS
Equivalence points
WoW
Also: EP, Stat weights
Stat weights: how much each stat is worth in one currency (attack power, spell power, healing, stamina) so items can be compared with one number. What this site's ratings are built on.
“By equivalence points that ring is worth 40 AP, the other one 52.”
See also: Theorycraft, BiS, Hit cap
Mob
MMO
Any computer-controlled enemy. 'Mobile object', from MUDs.
“Ten mobs for the quest.”
“Elite mobs hit like trucks.”
See also: Elite, Add
Parse
Raiding & dungeons
Your damage or healing on a fight compared to everyone else's logs for that fight and class, as a percentile. 'A 99 parse' is elite; 'a grey parse' is embarrassing.
“Orange parse on Patchwerk, screenshot it.”
“He parses 95 and stands in everything.”
See also: Logs, Damage meters, DPS
Race to world first
Raiding & dungeons
Also: RWF
The streamed competition between top guilds to clear a new raid first.
“The race to world first for Naxx lasted five days.”
See also: World first
Root
PvP
An effect that stops movement completely but not casting: Entangling Roots, Frost Nova.
“Root and run, root and run.”
See also: Snare, CC
Skill issue
Gaming slang
The reply to any complaint: you lost because you're worse.
“Rogues are OP — skill issue.”
See also: Cope, Scrub
Tryhard
Gaming slang
Someone who takes it too seriously. Insult or compliment depending on who's saying it.
“Tryhard twinks camping the 19 bracket.”
See also: Sweaty, Casual
MMO
MMO
Massively multiplayer online game: thousands of players in one persistent world.
“WoW is the MMO everyone else is compared to.”
See also: MMORPG, Guild

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.