My WoW Leveling Story » level 80

10 World of Warcraft abbreviations you need to know

natalie — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:29:04 +0000

If you’re a new player who just started playing World of Warcraft, you’ve probably seen a lot of abbreviations in chat that you might not understand. (Obviously, I’m not talking about common ones like LOL or OMG.) There are some terms that are unique to WoW and sometimes asking what they mean can be embarrassing. No problem, I learned a lot about WoW the hard way and I enjoy helping new folks. Read on for your personal decoder ring…!

Term	Usage	Meaning
Bio	“BRB, I need a bio break.”	A euphemism for going to the bathroom, but phrased in a less descriptive (and less gross) way.
FTW	“Druid healing FTW!”	Stands for “For The Win.” It means something is great. Its corollary is FTL (For The Loss) which means something is a bummer.
LF LFG LFM	“LF tank for Wailing Caverns.”	It stands for “Looking For,” with variations like Looking For Group (LFG), Looking for More (LFM), Looking for 2 More (LF2M), etc. This means that someone needs more folks to help with a dungeon or a quest. Maybe you can help them!
WTB	“WTB Peacebloom.”	Usually seen over Trade chat, it means “Want to Buy” or “Want to Sell” (WTS), just like on Craigslist.
NPC	“There are three NPCs at the top of the tower.”	Also called a “mob.” Stands for “Non-Player Character” and it means any of the computer-controlled creatures in the game.
AoE	“The mage’s AoE can kill all those mobs at once.”	Stands for “Area of Effect” which describes the damage a spell can do within a radius of the caster. So, instead of hitting just one monster, the spell hits all monsters near the person who cast the spell.
Pat	“Don’t let the pats around the corner catch you off guard.”	Short for “patrol,” which is a special kind of NPC who roams around an area instead of staying in one place all the time.
Pug PUG PuG	“I hate going through dungeons with pugs.”	No, it’s not a cute little doggie. It stands for “Pick Up Group” and it happens any time you join a group of other players that you don’t know.
Pots	“Bring some healing pots to the instance.”	Short for “potions.”
PvP	“I think world PvP is harder than battleground PvP.”	Abbreviation for Player vs. Player, which means you’re fighting other people like yourself instead of NPCs. (Fighting NPCs is called PvE: Player vs. Environment.)

I hope this list has helped you out a bit. I’ve got tons more of these tips coming up on this blog in future posts. I’ve also written up my story of getting to level 76 in just a few days of game time, which might help you out too.

Other resources:
- Check out my 3 simple tips for reaching level 80 faster.
- Go here for the ultimate source for even more leveling hints.

WoW player gets to level 80 without dying

natalie — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:19:57 +0000

Photo by emutree

As unbelievable as it sounds, a Warrior managed to get from level 1 to level 80 without dying once. That’s an incredible feat! Apparently this wasn’t her first character, so she was able to use her main to buy some nifty items that helped get her out of some scrapes. Some bloggers have even taken up the challenge to try it themselves.

However, there was a catch. She didn’t actually avoid death while leveling. Instead, when she died, she had to delete her character and then reactivate it to reset the tracking on number of deaths (which you can view on your Statistics tab in-game).

Technically, she didn’t cheat according to the Terms of Service. But it sure sounds like a pain in the neck to get what turns out to be a dubious accomplishment. I mean, if you have to find loopholes, you didn’t really accomplish anything, did you? I’d much rather level legitimately and have fun while doing it.

3 simple tips for reaching level 80 faster

natalie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:41:08 +0000

Getting to level 80 is a grind; no one’s going to argue with that. It took me almost two years to level my first World of Warcraft character to 80 just so I could see the Wrath of the Lich King content. It took so long that I thought I might never level another character again! Fortunately, along the way, I picked up some really simple ways to level faster. And this time I was able to get to level 76 in a matter of days, not weeks, of in-game time.

Tip 1: Visit all three starting zones for your faction

If you’re Alliance, do all the quests in Dun Morogh, Azuremyst Isle, Teldrassil, and Elwynn Forest. If you’re Horde, make sure you pick up all the quests in Mulgore, Tirisfal Glades, Eversong Woods, and Durotar. You’ll get to level 5 quickly by doing the quests in your race’s start-up area. But before heading out to higher level areas, make the trek to the other two lowbie zones and do all their quests too. You get almost as much XP and the quests go much faster and easier because you’re stronger than the mobs.

Tip 2: Don’t do group quests

Just because a quest is there doesn’t mean you have to do it. Especially group quests. It takes time to round up people or wait for a group to form so you can go tackle Hogger. You can get a lot of other quests done in the time that you’d otherwise be waiting on other people which easily equals the same XP . Of course, if a group falls in your lap, don’t hesitate to jump in.

Tip 3: Kill mobs (and do quests) that are 2-3 levels below you

The XP difference between killing green-level mobs vs. yellow- or orange-level mobs is negligible. On top of that, you can kill many more green-level mobs during the same time period and with much more ease. There’s also less chance that accidentally pulling too many mobs will kill you when they are lower in level.

I found these things out — and a lot more cool stuff — when I tried this guide. I even wrote a special page that tells you how I did it, if you want to know more.