SWTOR Acronyms: The MMO Lingo

Every game in existence has a form of it’s own language, especially when it comes to MMO’s. SWTOR of course is no different and soon after launch had a host of it’s own acronyms and short forms constantly flying through general chat. For a new player seeing all this can be very confusing, and even veterans can forget what some of them mean. With that in mind let’s take a look at some of the lingo used in SWTOR today, and some of the more general terms you’ll find in all MMOs.

General

Mob- Generally a monster or any unfriendly NPC

Adds- Additional Mobs that attack you while you’re already engaged with enemies

Pat- Patrol, a wandering pack of enemies

Pull- When one member of the party uses an ability (usually ranged) to grab the agro of a pack of enemies and bring them back to the group

Agro- How much attention an enemy NPC has on a player. Tanks use this to keep the bad guys attacking them.

CC- Crowd Control, use of an ability that renders an enemy incapacitated for a period of time

Root/Snare- Not to be confused with CC, these abilities lock the target in place but they can still use all their other abilities

Slow- Self-explanatory, an ability that reduces enemy movement speed

Crit- A critical hit which does a great deal more damage than a regular hit

HoT- Heal over time, an ability that deals periodic health to the player

DoT- Damage over Time, Inflicts damage every second over a period of time

Kite- When you grab an enemy’s agro and keep enough distance between you and them (usually by running away) all while dealing them damage. Usually only ranged classes can do this.

GCD- Global Cool Down

Buff- A spell/ability that increases a characters stats/ performance in some way

Debuff- The opposite of a buff this spell/ability will reduce stats/ performance on a target

Gank- Killing an enemy player when you have a large advantage over them i.e higher level or a large group

BoP- Bind on Pickup, this type of item will become bound to the player upon entering their inventory

BoE- Bind on Equip, these items will become bound to the player when they equip them

Toon- a player’s character in game

Alt- a players’ alternate character ie. Not their main character they play the most

Farm-the act of repeatedly killing the same group of monsters or gathering resources in a certain area, usually for financial or level gain

WTT- Want to Trade, used when a player is looking to trade something

WTS- Want to Sell, the most common thing you’ll find on general chat (other than trolling)

WTB- Want to Buy

LFG- Looking for Group. You’re looking for other players to group with, usually for a flashpoint or operation

LFM- Looking for More. You need more members for your group before you can continue

DPS- Damage Per Second. Used to describe any class that specializes in doing damage

Healer- A healing class like a Sage or Operative

Tank- A class that specializes in holding the agro of enemies and taking the damage. i.e. Sith Warrior, Trooper Vanguard

Nerf- a change that negatively impacts a classes performance in the game

OOM- means you’re out of resources i.e. force or ammo

PuG- Pick up Group, A group of players who have never met that cooperating to complete a flashpoint or warzone

SWTOR Specific

GTN- Galactic Trade Network, an auction house for players to sell and purchase goods

Flashpoint- SWTOR’s version of dungeons in “other” games. Usually run an hour or less and have multiple boss fights. Can only be completed in a group.

Heroic- A higher difficulty version of a Flashpoint that offers different mechanics and greater loot reward.

Operation- The Raids of SWTOR. Large group (8 or 16 man) PvE encounters that offer the greatest loot rewards in the game. Like flashpoints they consist of multiple boss fights.

Warzone- Instanced PVP battles that pit teams of 8 against on another. Objective based i.e. capture and hold or Huttball

AC- Advanced Class

IMP- Imperial

Reb- Rebels, or Republic

LSP- Light Side Point

DSP- Dark Side Point

Of course these are just a few of the more popular terms you’ll see flying through general chat, but hopefully it will now seem like less of a foreign language. If there’s any important terms you don’t see on the list be sure to add them in the comments below.