Chat Channels

After you log on and are in Azeroth how to you talk to other players?
The way to get the ball rolling is press the enter key. You will notice in the lower left hand corner of your screen a box that appears with the prompt “Say: ” on the left side. This is the command line. To join a chat channel simple type a forward slash — “/” followed by the type of channel you want to join. A listing of the more common ones is listed below.

/p party. This is only applicable when you are in a group. Any text in this channel appears in blue.

/s say. Anything you type here will appear over your characters head in a speech bubble. Text in this channel appears in white.

/g guild chat. Only accessible if you belong to a guild. Enables you to chat with your guildmates.

/w whisper. Used to send a private message to a specific person. Text is sort of pinkish magenta.

/1 General Chat. Used to blab to everyone in the zone.

/2 Trade Channel. Used to tell others you want to buy, trade or sell something.

/3 Local Defense Channel. Typically used to notify other people in the zone if Alliance or Horde baddies are in the neighborhood. On a PvP server used to ask others for help of you’ve managed to get your corpse “camped.” (see Terms and Abbreviations, Part III).

NOTE: One very important gotcha — remember to exit the chat channel if you are going to use your keyboard to interact with the environment, otherwise your commands will appears as text in the chat channel. That would be a fauxpas.

Forming and leaving a group

What is a group?
A group is a set of 2 - 5 characters that are working together. Many instances require 5 people to successfully complete (more on instances in a later post).

Anyway, a group is formed when one player invites another into a group. This is done by first selecting the character you want to invite into your group. When you see their portrait in the top of the screen, right click on their portrait and left-click on “Invite.” They will see a pop up window that says “Fauxpas has invited you to a group. Accept or Decline.”

If you accept you immediately see below your portrait the other party member. You can also see your group members on the minimap. While in a group you have a dedicated chat channel called “party.” While in a group you can share quests. You share XP and money. You also have a chance to roll for the better loot that may drop from a mob.

Leaving a group is done by right-clicking your portrait and then left-clicking “leave group.” It is considered bad manners to up and leave a group without any kind of warning. Exceptions to leaving a group unannounced include party members that are @-h0les, jerks or loot ninjas as well as real-life events like kitchen fires or low-flying aircraft over your home.

-fauxpas

Abbreviations and Terms, Part II

More abbrevations and terms you’ll see in the chat areas…

PST: Please send tell / text. This is another way of saying “send me a message.”

TY: Thank you.

YW: You’re welcome.

NP: No Problem. Often used in place of “you’re welcome.”

Q: Quest

LFW: Looking For Work. Many of the professions in Azeroth require you to make stuff to increase your skill level. LFW is a way characters tell others they want to do work for you so they can level their skill.

Share: Not an abbreviation certainly, but instead a term used to request sharing a quest. For example, I have quest A and you have quest B. Neither has any prerequiste quests. If we are in a group I can share A with you and you can share B with me. It’s a bit like a group member becomes a quest giver.

Dueling etiquette and mechanics

Tromping thru Cold Ridge valley looking for Rockjaw Trogg to slaughter and WHAM…. a message box jumps onto your screen: “Nutcase has challenged you to a duel. Accept or Decline.”
Nutcase begins to strut like a chicken and your dignity has been insulted. In a fit of pique you click “Accept.”

Now what?

In the main chat screen you see ominous messages.
Duel will start in 3 seconds…
Duel will start in 2 seconds…
Duel will start in 1 second…

A fireball hits you and you still don’t know where Nutcase is located. After a few moments your health bar is at 1 point and on the general chat line is broadcast “Nutcase has defeated (your name here) in a duel.”

Not to worry. Dueling is a common thing to do in Azeroth and is used by characters for a variety of reasons including improving weapons skill, fun and just because.

(As an aside I rolled a gnome mage to serve as an Auction Hall mule and ran him to IF as a level 1. On the way I challenged a lvl 70 priest to a duel. I got one-shotted without a doubt but I liked it.)

Dueling etiquette:
1) you are under no obligation to accept a challenge.
2) if your challenge is ignored twice, leave em alone.
3) if your toon is capable of healing others you should heal the other party when the duel is finished.
4) if you can buff the other party you should do so, even if you lost.
5) /say or /whisper “thanks” to the other party. If they dueled well you might tell them that.
6) if you prevailed and are feeling particulary generous you might offer to help the other party in some way.

Dueling Mechanics:
1) If you are going to accept a challenge then locate the character that challenged you and select them BEFORE you click “Accept.”
2) Watch the count down messages (see above — they’re ominous)
3) Let ‘em have it!
4) Beat em!!
5) Punch him in the head!!

uh oh…..

“Nutcase has defeated Fauxpas in a duel.”

dang.

pass the ice cream.

Mobs 101: Why did that wolf attack me?!

Zemlah the level 6 human priest was battling a wolf near Goldshire when another wolf loped up and joined in the battle. Fauxpas was drinking a soda when Zemlah asked Fauxpas, “Why did that wolf attack me?! I wasn’t hitting it.”
/laugh
/sodaCascadeFromNose
Zemlah, and all you other almost n00bies, welcome to Mobs 101.

At this point in the game all characters you encounter have one of three colors as part of their portrait background. Green, Yellow or Red.

Green is friendly and they won’t attack you and you can’t attack them.

Yellow indicates neutral. If you don’t attack them they won’t attack you. The very beginning monsters you killed were yellow so you could walk right up to them and whack em first. Also, no other yellow monster will get drawn into the fray if the happen to walk near you while battling.

Red indicates hostile, or enemy. These mobs are the ones that will attack you even if you don’t attack them first. Get too close to a starving timberwolf and he will snack on you. Get too close to three starving timberwolves and all three will snack on you at the same time.

Fauxpas, how do I know if a mob is friendly, neutral or hostile?
Left click on it. From a distance. Look at the mob portrait. Check the color.

That’s one way to tell. The other way is to walk up to the wolf and pet it. If he bites, he’s hostile.

“I think I recruited a bot”

Mom and I play WoW on Sunday evenings. So I call her today just to say hello and find out if she managed to save her level 6 human priest from the nasties. The paper doll icon is yellow and she is stuck in the middle of a cluster of baddies.
Next thing you know a 42 Pally (Paladin) invites her to join a guild. She accepts. New guild mate opens trade window and gives her a tabard. She doesn’t know how to reply to whispers. She doesn’t know how to get to the guild chat channel. Eventually, the Pally says “I think I recruited a bot.” My mom busts a gut laughing so hard.

We don’t use abbreviations in WoW

You need to complete a quest that involves purchasing Frost Oil or a Hillman’s Cloak. “Where do I get these things?” you wonder. So onto the General Chat Channel you hop and something like this occurs:

You: Where can I get a Hillman’s Cloak, pls?
They: Get it at AH.
You: AH?
They: ZOMG!! AH??!! U R kidding right? What a n00b!!
You: (Blush, Chagrin, Confusion)

Grab the ice cream and a tablespoon. Feel better? Ok…. keep reading.

So here are some of the top abbreviations and terms everyone new to World of Warcraft need to know.

5-Second Rule: In a nutshell this means that mana will not begin to regenerate until 5 seconds after the last cast or spell.
AB: Arathi Basin. A battleground where each side tries to accumulate 2000 resources by controling up to 5 nodes. The more nodes controlled the faster the resources accumulate. The five nodes are Farm, Stables, Gold Mine, Lumber Mill and Blacksmith. Up to 15 players per side

Aggro: Short for aggravation (noun). This is a measure of how much a monster hates you. In other words, more aggro = the more the monster wants to kill YOU and not some other player.

AH: (noun) Auction Hall. This is where the loot you gather / farm is sold to other players that need it. Using the Auction Hall is an art unto itself but the basics are you buy stuff and sell stuff. Many times the things you need cannot be obtained from vendor (e.g. Bone Fragments) but they can be obtained from people willing to sell such items. Auction Hall is the place all that occurs. Each faction has an Auction Hall in their major cities. Dwarves and Gnomes in Ironforge, Humans in Stormwind, Night Elves in Darnassus and Dranei in The Exodar. Taurens in Thunderbluff, Undead in Undead City, Trolls and Orcs in Orgrimarr and Blood Elves in Silvermoon City.

AV: Alterac Valley. A level 50+ battleground. Up to 40 players per side.

BC: Burning Crusade. The current expansion in WoW.

BG: Battleground. These a PvP special instances that span many realms. The object of each battleground is NOT primarily to kill other players; it is to achieve an objective. Killing other characters is often the result of trying to achieve those objectives. Current Battlegrounds are: Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Alterac Valley and Eye of the Storm.

Deadmines: First instance that alliance characters may run. End boss is Edwin van Cleef (VC).

DPS: Damage Per Second. Normalized way to describe how much damage a player can put out. Accounts for differences in weapon speed, haste rating, etc. e.g. my weapon speed might be slower than another player but my damage per second (dps) may be higher.

EoTS: Eye of the Storm. A high level battleground that combines elements of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. Each side tries to control up to four towers to accumulate points. In the center of the battleground is a flag that either side can carry to a tower under their control for additional points.

Farm: To gather resources or “drops” from Mobs for the purpose of fulfilling a quest requirement or for selling said items in AH. Also used to gain reputation among certain factions.

Grind: (verb) The act of killing many creatures / mobs to gain experience points. (”I have 200 points left to go so I’m just gonna grind on boars until I level up.”)

IF: Ironforge (noun). Main city for dwarves and gnomes also located in the Eastern Kingdoms.

Inc: Incoming. Used in battlegrounds to indicate an assault on a node or position.

LFG: [quest or instance]: Looking for group for [quest or instance] (verb). e.g. LFG Gnomer.

LFM: Looking for more (verb). A variation on this is LF2M [quest or instance], which means Looking for 2 more [quest or instance]. e.g. LF2M Gnomer.

Mob: (noun) Short for Mobiles. These are the bad guys you kill.

Mp5: Mana per 5 seconds. How much mana generates every 5 seconds. This is typically gear based because of the 5-second rule.

NE:
1) Nightelf.
2) Used phonetically to mean “Any.” For example :”LF NE Chanter Mongoose” translates into “Looking for any enchanter that can cast the Mongoose enchant.”

NPC: (noun) Non-player Character. These are characters that you may or may not interact with. Quest givers are all NPCs.

Org: Orgrimmar.

PvE: Player vs Environment.

PvP: Player vs Player.

PvP Flag: This is used to determine if another player may attack you.  On PvP servers you are always flagged for PvP.  On PvE servers you control when you are flagged for PvP.  Certain actions taken while not flagged will automatically flag you as PvP enabled.

SW: Stormwind (noun). Main city for the Humans located in the Eastern Kingdoms.

Tank: A “tank” is the main melee character that is intended to receive all the “aggro” from the “mobs.”

UC: Undercity.

VC: Van Cleef. Edwin van Cleef is the end boss of The Deadmines. See Deadmines.

WoTLK: Wrath of the Lich King. The next game expansion after Burning Crusade.

WSG: warsong gulch

Zerg: Used in battlegrounds to indicate a full on assault, either incoming or a command to do so. For example, in Arathi Basin there are five nodes each side endeavors to control. One of those nodes is Blacksmith (BS). So if you saw in battleground chat “inc zerg BS” you would know the opposing faction is conducting an assault on the blacksmith and a whole lotta folks are there.
Now, let the nasty-grams flow indicating the reams of terms I left out. Ready, begin…

Let the quest begin…

I am so jazzed! I have a quest (probably a chain) to complete. It is to help other hunters avoid from becoming huntards. I was once a huntard (and may still be) but I have now learned a number of things and would like nothing better than to coach, entreat, cajole and, if necessary, beg any dear readers to apply a modicum of thought while playing their hunter toon. I promise not to ridicule (unless clearly deserved) and will endeavor to maintain this blog free of trolls. That’s how we roll here at FauxPaws.