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

11 of 304 words for “Gold”

Gold
MMO
The money. Epic mount 1,000 gold, respec 50, a flask 100.
“Broke again, spent it all on consumes.”
See also: Auction house, RMT
RMT
MMO
Also: Gold buying
Real-money trading: buying gold or items with actual money. Against the rules, everywhere, always.
“Half the server's gold came from RMT and everyone knows it.”
See also: Gold, Bot, GDKP
Auction house
MMO
Also: AH
The server's player market. Where the gold goes.
“Check the AH before you farm it.”
See also: Gold, Mats
Bot
MMO
A character played by a program, usually farming gold or honor. Reported, banned, replaced.
“Bots in Tyr's Hand again, every hour.”
See also: RMT, Farm
Consumes
Raiding & dungeons
Also: Consumables
Consumables: flasks, elixirs, potions, food, weapon oils. Raiders spend hundreds of gold a week on them.
“Bring consumes or don't bother showing up.”
“Full consumes: Mongoose, Giants, Flask of the Titans.”
See also: Flask, World buff, Mats
GDKP
Raiding & dungeons
A gold DKP run: loot goes to the highest gold bid, and the pot is split among everyone at the end. Banned in some versions of the game for feeding gold buying.
“GDKP for Naxx, 5,000 gold minimum bid on tier.”
See also: DKP, RMT
Grind
MMO
Repetitive play for XP, reputation, honor or gold. Farming with less dignity.
“Grinding Timbermaw rep for the enchant.”
“Rank grind ruined his sleep schedule.”
See also: Farm, Rep
Mount
MMO
Your ride. 60% speed at level 40 for 90 gold in vanilla, 100% at 60 for a thousand.
“Epic mount at 60 is the real endgame.”
See also: Gold
Quest
MMO
A task from an NPC with XP, gold and gear at the end.
“Quest is bugged, the NPC isn't there.”
See also: XP, Group quest
Respec
WoW
Paying the trainer to reset your talents. The price rises each time, up to 50 gold in vanilla.
“Respec cost is 50g now, I'm staying fury.”
“I respec'd to tank for the raid.”
See also: Talent, Spec, Dual spec
Flask
Raiding & dungeons
The strongest consumable: a two-hour buff that survives death. Flask of the Titans, Distilled Wisdom, Supreme Power.
“Flask for progression only, they cost 100 gold.”
See also: Consumes

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.