The glossary

47 of 304 words for “Layer”

1. Layer

   MMO

   A copy of a zone on the same server, used to spread players out at launch. Layer hopping lets you reach fresh spawns.

   “He's on a different layer, invite him to swap.”

   See also: Server, Phasing

2. Ace

   Esports

   One player killing the whole enemy team in a round.

   “Ace! Five for five.”

   See also: Clutch

3. Addon

   WoW

   A player-made UI modification: damage meters, boss timers, questing helpers.

   “Which addon shows the debuff timers?”

   See also: Macro, WeakAura, Damage meters

4. APM

   Esports

   Actions per minute. A speed stat for players.

   “300 APM and half of it is spam clicking.”

   See also: Micro

5. 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

6. Backpedal

   Gaming slang

   Walking backwards, at half speed. The mark of a new player.

   “Don't backpedal, strafe.”

   See also: Keyboard turner

7. Balance

   WoW

   How you split survival against damage: more stamina and armor, or more crit and attack power. The line PvP players argue about. This site's gear planner has a knob for it.

   “Balance for PvP: enough stamina to survive an opener, the rest into crit.”

   See also: Stamina, Equivalence points, Twink

8. Boost

   MMO

   A high-level player killing a dungeon while low-level characters collect the XP. Mage boosting was an industry.

   “Selling SM boosts, 5g a run.”

   See also: Boosted, Farm

9. Buff

   WoW

   A beneficial effect on a player: Power Word: Fortitude, Battle Shout, food buffs, world buffs. Also, in patch notes, making something stronger.

   “Buff up, ready check in one minute.”

   “They buffed Arms in the last patch.”

   See also: Debuff, World buff, Nerf

10. Buff bot

    MMO

    A player brought to a group just for their buffs. Also a character parked in a city to buff passers-by.

    “We took a paladin as a buff bot, honestly.”

    See also: Buff, Hybrid

11. Camping

    Gaming slang

    Waiting in one spot for a spawn, a player or a drop.

    “Camping the rare spawn for the trinket.”

    See also: Spawn, Corpse camping

12. Casual

    Gaming slang

    A player who plays for fun and not much time. Also an insult from people who play too much.

    “Casual guild, two raids a week, no attendance rules.”

    See also: Hardcore, Tryhard

13. Damage meters

    Raiding & dungeons

    Also: Meters, Recount, Details

    Addons that show live damage and healing per player. The reason every DPS knows exactly where they stand — and the name of this site.

    “Damage meters say the rogue did 40% of the raid's damage.”

    “Post meters after the boss.”

    See also: Parse, DPS, Logs

14. Diff

    Gaming slang

    Difference: the gap between two players in the same role decided the game. 'Healer diff.'

    “Healer diff, ours was OOM the whole game.”

    See also: Cracked

15. Dungeon

    Raiding & dungeons

    A five-player instance. Pre-raid gear comes from here.

    “Scholomance, Stratholme and the Blackrock dungeons are the endgame dungeons at 60.”

    See also: Raid, Instance, Pre-raid BiS

16. Elo

    Esports

    A rating system for skill, from chess. Win against better players, gain more.

    “Lost 40 Elo to a smurf.”

    See also: MMR, Smurf

17. Flag carrier

    PvP

    Also: FC

    The player holding the flag in Warsong Gulch. Your own is the FC, the enemy's is the EFC.

    “Peel for the flag carrier!”

    “Druid FC with speed and travel form is the classic pick.”

    See also: EFC, WSG, Peel

18. Focus target

    PvP

    Also: Focus

    The player everyone agrees to attack first, or the second target your UI tracks so you can interrupt it.

    “Focus target is the priest, kick every heal.”

    See also: Clothie, Interrupt

19. Griefing

    Gaming slang

    Ruining other players' fun on purpose: pulling extra mobs onto them, training a boss, stealing tags.

    “Griefing the quest area by killing every NPC.”

    See also: Toxic, Training

20. Group quest

    MMO

    A quest meant for several players, marked as such. Solo it at your peril.

    “It's a group quest, elite at the end.”

    See also: Quest, Elite

21. Guild

    MMO

    A player organization with its own chat, bank and raid schedule. The social unit of an MMO.

    “Our guild cleared BWL last week.”

    “Guild drama, again.”

    See also: Raid, Raid leader

22. 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

23. Honor

    PvP

    Points from killing enemy players and winning battlegrounds. In vanilla they drove a weekly ranking; in Classic they buy PvP gear.

    “Honor resets Tuesday, grind while you can.”

    See also: Rank, Honorable kill

24. Honorable kill

    PvP

    Also: HK

    A kill on an enemy player of roughly your level that counts for honor. Killing greys gives nothing.

    “Twelve hundred honorable kills and still rank 7.”

    See also: Honor, Rank

25. KEKW

    Gaming slang

    Also: KEK

    Laughter, from a Twitch emote. 'KEK' is the Horde-side 'lol' — the game translates Orcish 'lol' as 'kek' to Alliance players.

    “Body pulled the boss, KEKW.”

    See also: Pog, LOL

26. Master looter

    Raiding & dungeons

    A loot mode where one player hands out everything. Standard in guild raids.

    “Master looter is the raid leader, whisper your rolls.”

    See also: Ninja, DKP, Loot council

27. 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

28. Newb

    Gaming slang

    Also: Newbie

    A genuinely new player. Not an insult, mostly.

    “Newb here, where's the trainer?”

    See also: Noob

29. Noob

    Gaming slang

    Also: N00b

    A new player who doesn't know what they're doing — or an insult for anyone who just made a mistake. 'Newb' is the kinder version.

    “Don't pull without the tank, noob.”

    “We were all noobs once.”

    See also: Newb, Scrub

30. NPC

    Gaming slang

    Non-player character: quest givers, vendors, guards, anyone not a person.

    “Talk to the NPC by the well.”

    See also: Mob, Vendor

31. Phasing

    MMO

    The world showing different things to different players depending on their quest progress — a burned-down town for you, a normal one for your friend.

    “We can't see each other, it's phasing from the quest.”

    See also: Layer

32. POV

    Esports

    Point of view: a stream or recording from one player's screen.

    “Watch the POV of the flag carrier, it's chaos.”

    See also: VOD, Caster

33. PvE

    MMO

    Player versus environment: quests, dungeons, raids. Fighting the game, not each other.

    “PvE server, no ganking, just questing.”

    See also: PvP, Raid

34. PvP

    MMO

    Player versus player: duels, battlegrounds, world fights.

    “PvP server, expect to die in STV.”

    See also: PvE, Battleground, World PvP

35. Raid

    Raiding & dungeons

    A large-group instance — 20 or 40 players in vanilla — and the group itself. Weekly lockouts, big bosses, epic loot.

    “Raid is Tuesday and Thursday, be on by seven.”

    “Molten Core was the first 40-man raid.”

    See also: Dungeon, Lockout, Tier set

36. Resilience

    PvP

    A PvP stat from later expansions that reduces damage from players and crit chance against you. Not in vanilla; Forever may add its own version.

    “No resilience here — stamina is the PvP stat.”

    See also: Stamina

37. Rez

    WoW

    Also: Res, Resurrect

    Resurrection: bringing a dead player back with a spell. Priests, paladins, shamans; druids once every 30 minutes in combat.

    “Rez the tank first.”

    “Mass rez isn't a thing here, walk.”

    See also: Spirit healer, Corpse run

38. Scrub

    Gaming slang

    A bad player who blames everything but themselves.

    “Scrub lost the duel and blamed lag.”

    See also: Noob, Salty

39. Smurf

    Gaming slang

    A skilled player on a new account, playing against beginners.

    “That level 19 was a smurf, nobody moves like that at 19.”

    See also: Elo, Twink

40. Soulbound

    MMO

    Bound to your character; can't be traded, mailed or sold to players.

    “Soulbound, so the ninja can't even sell it.”

    See also: BoP, BoE

41. Spawn

    Gaming slang

    Where or when an enemy, item or player appears. Respawn is the return after death.

    “The rare spawns every four hours.”

    “Spawn camping the graveyard is bad manners.”

    See also: Respawn, Camping

42. Summon

    WoW

    A warlock and two helpers pulling a player to the instance with Ritual of Summoning. Saves twenty minutes.

    “Summon please, I'm in Ironforge.”

    See also: Hearth, Meeting stone

43. Threat

    WoW

    The invisible number every enemy keeps for each player. Damage and healing raise it; the highest threat gets attacked. Tanks generate it on purpose.

    “I'm at 90% of the tank's threat, holding back.”

    “Sunder Armor is more threat per rage than Heroic Strike early on.”

    See also: Aggro, Taunt, Tank

44. Training

    Gaming slang

    Dragging a line of enemies onto other players. Verb: to train.

    “He trained the whole graveyard onto us and Vanished.”

    See also: Griefing, Aggro

45. Whale

    Gaming slang

    A player who spends a lot of money in a game. Not really a vanilla WoW concept; the store didn't exist.

    “Whales keep free-to-play games running.”

    See also: RMT

46. World buff

    Raiding & dungeons

    Zone-wide buffs from events — Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, Warchief's Blessing, Songflower, Dire Maul tribute — that vanilla raiders collect before a raid and lose when they die.

    “Full world buffs and a flask, don't you dare die on trash.”

    See also: Buff, Consumes

47. World PvP

    PvP

    Fighting other players out in the zones rather than in battlegrounds. Anything from a duel outside Orgrimmar to a 200-person Tarren Mill raid.

    “Southshore vs Tarren Mill was world PvP before battlegrounds existed.”

    See also: Gank, STV