Posts by Lady Lyn

Presearing Dictionary/Glossary:

A

• AC - Ascalon City

• AE - After Exodus. In the story timeline, it is the era after the Gods left the mortal realm.

• Access Key - Or "key code" is a 25-digit alpha/numeric code. This code is used in the creation

of a GW account, or to add more features to an already existing account.

• Account - The account you use to connect to Guild Wars.

• Account Mark - A warning placed on an account for infractions and violations of the Rules of Conduct.

This usually results in a temporary account suspension.

• Action - This includes regular attacks as well as the use of all skills.

• Activation Time - The amount of time it takes for a skill to be executed once selected.

• Adept Staff - A staff with an adept upgrade on it.

• Adjacent - The range for a skill that requires you to be right next to your target.

• Adrenaline - A resource cost for Warriors and some other martial professions.

Aside from Energy it is sometimes called for as a resource to activate a skill.

• Aeromancer - An Elementalist dedicated to Air Magic.

• Aftercast Delay - The time after using a skill in which your character cannot move or use skills.

•Aggro – The switch from the passive to the aggressive state. Can be used as a noun or a verb.

Short for aggravate, an internal measurement for how much threat the AI considers a character to be.

The more threat a player holds, the more that player will be prioritized for attack by the AI.

• Aggro Circle – Danger Zone.

• AL – Armor Level, or amount of protection a piece of armor provides.

• Alliance – Between 2-10 Guilds joined together to increase the amount of players in a joint effort.

• Allegience - Refers to joining either a Luxon or a Kurzick Alliance.

• Alpha - An early stage of testing for upcoming Guild Wars Chapters.

• Ally – A Party member or Anything that isn't trying to kill you.

• Animate - The creation of Minions by a Necromancer.

• Annihilation - To completely destroy the other team/party.

• Anti-farm Code - Part of Guild Wars software designed to reduce the benefits of

repeated farming of a single area.

ANet has published very few details about how this software works; and so

what small details players know is based on their own limited experiments and guesswork.

• Archer – A Ranger specializing in Marksmanship.

• Area Boundary - "Portals" from one area to another.

• Area Damage Over Time - ADOT - Skills which inflict periodic damage to a certain area.

• AoE - Area of Effect. Skills that can affect more than a single target.

• Arena Guard - NPC that teleport you to an arena.

• Armor - The clothing used by your characters, and other creatures. The AL can vary from 0-80.

The use of armor reduces damage done to a creature. Bonus upgrades reduce damage even more.

• Armor Bonus - Additional energy, energy recovery, health, - damage and increased AR.

The easiest way to achieve these bonuses is through the use of runes & insignias.

• Armor Penetration - The extent to which damage penetrates an enemy's armor.

• Armor Rating - A statistic that determines the amount of physical and elemental damage

a creature will take.

• Artificial Intelligence - AI refers to the behavior of any computer-controlled ally or foe in the game.

• Artisan – A Crafter that combines common crafting materials to make rare crafting materials.

• Assign - Random drops are "assigned" to a specific team player. That player is the only

member of the team that can retrieve the item for a certain period of time.

• Attack Speed - Refers to the amount of time it takes to attack a foe with a weapon.

This speed can be increased through the use of skills and certain consumables.

• Attribute Points – Points applied to raise attributes.

• Attribute Quest – N/A in Pre – A Quest that rewards 15 Attribute Points.

• Attuned - Being under the effect of an attunement spell so as to lower your energy costs.

• Auto Attack - Targeting a foe and then using your weapon only, without any attack skills,

while hitting the space bar.

• Avatar – A Representative of the Tyrian Gods. Players never interact with the gods, only with Avatars.

B
• BD - Black Dye - The primary alternative currency for player trades in Presearing Ascalon.

• Backline - Allies behind the tanks in a party formation, usually Casters & Healers.

• Ban - A Block or Suspension, Temporary to Permanent, on a player's account usually

resulting from Rule Violations & Bad Behaviour.

• Basic Armor - Armor function providing Bonuses for Armor/Health/Energy/Regen Depending on class.

Not to be confused with armor bonuses gained through the application of Insignias & Runes.

• Battle Symbol - The Green shield that appears over the heads of NPCs that offer missions.

Sir Tydus in Ascalon City can be seen sporting one at the Academy Gates.

• Beast Master - BM - Rangers who deal damage through their pets, focusing mainly on

strengthening their pets, and using mostly pet based abilities.

• Beta - The testing stage after alpha but before public, commercial release.

• Beta Weekend Event - Events that allowed players to play before the release of Guild Wars.

They were eventually replaced by World Preview Events.

• Blessing - A temporary bonus, usually granted by an NPC for a price. N/A in Presearing.

• Blind-bot - A character spamming the Blind condition to debilitate enemy attackers,

sometimes abbreviated as "bb".

• Block – To completely avoid damage from an attack. Also granted by certain skills.

• Blue Item - In terms of item rarity, the most common of the uncommon items.

• Body Block - The act of preventing another character from passing through your physical location.

One cannot simply walk into Mordor through another character.

• Bonus - In missions, refers to extra objectives that grant extra gold and/or experience.

• Boss - An enemy leader that is usually a higher level than their counterparts.

They are surrounded by auras indicating their profession,

and have additional affects that makes them more resilient or more powerful.

Many Bosses drop a rare or unique items.

• Bot – Short for robot. An automated program generally used to farm items. Bots are prohibited.

• Bread Crumbs - - The red dots seen on maps, in explorable areas and missions,

showing the route which the players has taken.

Breadcrumbs disappear when the player DCs.

• Breaking Aggro - Losing Aggro - Reducing a character's threat level enough so that foes switch targets

or break off aggro completely. Known methods are: Speed Buffs, Snares, Body Blocks, Porting, etc.

• BreakPoint - The attribute rank at which skill effects become far more useful.

Example: Expertise reduces the energy cost of 5 energy skills by 1 at rank 3,

but the next breakpoint doesn't come until rank 8, when the cost is reduced by 2.

• Buff - (1) A skill that increases the abilities of a character.

(2) A change to a skill, mission, etc. that makes it better. (Opposite of Nerf).

• Bug - A flaw in the game that prevents it from working correctly.

• Build - A template of skills.

• Build Number - Essentially the version number of the Guild Wars release.

• Buy Me Dinner First - Polite way of telling a scammer you know he's trying to F' you.

Immediately after this you break off conversation, place him on ignore and /report him.

If any screens were captured for ANet as evidence, your own integrity is kept intact,

and your account cannot be suspended for verbal abuses.

c

• Call - Broadcasting your actions over the team channel.

• Call Target - When a player announces the target he is attacking in Team Chat.

By calling attention to a specific target, the player rallies team members to attack the same,

resulting in much quicker take downs of Foe Healers and other Casters.

• Campaign - Also known as chapters. Prophecies or Factions for example.

• Cancel - To end the use of a skill prematurely by moving during the "Skill Activation Time".

Note: The cost of the skill, which is prepaid, is still incurred.

• Cape - A cloak worn over a character's armor showing allegiance to their "Guild".

A cape can be Displayed or Hidden in varying degrees as the player see's fit.

• Capture – Usually refers to a screen capture or screenshot.

• Cast - To use a spell or skill.

• Caster - Any character that relies on spells as their weapons.

• Casting Range - This range is 1.2 times larger than the Danger Zone.

• Channel Filter - A horizontal list of boxes above the Chat Box or Window.

These boxes when checked allow text from various other chat channels to be filtered out.

• Character - Generally refers to the in-game representation of players.

Example: "Jane Doe" is the player, "Queen of Ascalon" is the character.

• Character Level - A general indication of the progress of a character ranging from 1 to 20.

• Character Slot - Every character created on an account occupies one character slot.

• Charr - A monster race in Guild Wars and the main threat in part of Presearing.

• Chat Box - The 2 sectioned window used to communicate with other players in game via text messages.

The upper section of the box is the Chat Display, while directly below is the Text Entry L•ine.

• Chat Channel - All, Team, Guild, Trade, Alliance, Whisper & Emote.

These channels can be Turned On or Off by checking or unchecking the corresponding box.

• Cinematic - The cutscenes before, during, and after gameplay and missions.

• Class – Also known as profession.

• Clean - A weapon with no upgrades, dye, or other modifiers.

• Clipping - A graphical Bug that occurs when items such as armor and weapons appear to be

passing through one another. Another Example (Environmental) is when your character passes

through seemingly closed doors and other usually solid objects and terrain.

• Collectable Drops – Trophy Loot that can be traded in to a collector.

• Collectors - NPCs that give items in exchange for collectable drops.

• Command Line - A method of changing the way Guild Wars runs.

• Combat - When the character is attacking. When an NPC Ally is attacking, they will refuse conversation.

Instead they yell out, telling you to stop talking, start fighting, or point out that they are busy.

• Competative Online Roleplaying Game - What Guild Wars is. Only your party is in an explorable area.

Not quite an MMORPG, which can have multiple parties in explorable areas at the same time.

• Condition - A negative physical effect.

• Container - Any inventory item that can hold other inventory items.

• Continent - The separate regions that each campaign takes place in.

• Co-operative Mission - The missions that make up the player-vs.-environment campaigns.

• Core - Used to label any content that isn't specific to any one single campaign.

• Corpse - The remains of a creature after it has died. Only fleshy corpses are exploitable.

Remains from non-fleshy creatures cannot be exploited for any reason.

• Corpse Exploitation - Utilizing a corpse with Necromancer skills to Animate or Create Minions.

• Costume - Decorative items worn over a character's armor to change their appearance.

Costumes are equipped into a character's costume slots without affecting any armor stats.

• Counter - Using one skill or build to specifically oppose another.

• Crafter - An NPC that converts crafting materials into something else.

• Create - To summon a creature to come to life within the mortal realm.

In Presearing this is done through Minions & The Bonus Item Summoning Stone.

• Creature - Anything with a health bar that isn't dead.

• Critical Hit - A successful attack that deals additional damage.

• Currency - The basic currency in GW is gold, with 1000 being Platinum.

• Customize - Customizes an item for a specific character, armor comes pre-customized,

you can customize weapons for a 20% damage bonus.

Some quest items are also customized.

Customized equipment can only be used by the character for whom it was customized.

• Cutscene – Aka Cinematic.

D

• DC - Disconnect.

• Damage - One of the ways that a foe subtracts health from a player's character.

• Damage Dealer - Party member who deals damage, as opposed to a tank or a healer.

• Damage Monitor - Game Interface Feature that shows the type of damage a character is receiving.

• Damage over Time - DoT - Any kind of damage that doesn't take effect immediately.

• Damage Per Second - DPS - Self Explanatory.

• Damage Reduction - Any of 3 ways of reducing either incoming or outgoing damage.

1. Reducing or Preventing by a fixed amount.

2. Reducing or Preventing by a (%) percentage of the total.

3. Preventing it from exceeding a certain percentage of a threshold, usually the target's health.

• Danger Zone - The white circle on the compass that shows the range at which foes will agro.

• Death - When a creatures health drops completely to zero.

• Death Leveling - The process by which monsters and pets are leveled up by killing a player.

The player is then resurrected at a shrine, where it is killed again repeatedly,

until the desired level is attained.

This is a common method for evolving pets in Presearing to Dire.

• Death Penalty - DP - A penalty to your maximum HP and Energy for dying. N/A in Pre.

• Debuff - A Condition or Hex which limits a player, therefore reducing his effectiveness. Example: Blind

• Defensive Set - A weapon set that introduces a shield into the offhand slot of a character class

that does not usually use shields. Often done to add improvements to Armor. Example: Casters

• Degeneration - When the Health or Energy bar steadily decreases by a set amount

between 1 to 10 " pips". Commonly shortened to Degen.

• Direct Damage - Damage that comes in a single unit, as opposed to Damage over time.

Sometimes abbreviated as DD.

• Disable a Skill - To render a skill unavailable for use.

• Disguise - Changes the character's appearance temporarily. Achieved in Pre by the use of Tonics.

• Disrupt – Aka interrupt - Prevents an attack from completing or a skill from activating.

• District – A plane of a public area, to be used for chatting, trading, and forming parties.

• Divine Aura - A visual effect that owners of the Collector’s Editions get while dancing.

• Dodge - An action that allows a character to avoid getting hit by certain projectiles.

• Drop - Usually refers to loot from foes, but can also mean to lose connection to the game.

• Drunk - A character becomes drunk through the excessive consumption of alcohol.

This is done to achieve the Drunk Title "Incorrigible Ale Hound". By Pressing F11, to enter Options,

Drunk effects can be negated by unchecking "Enable post process effects" on the Graphics Tab.

• Duping - Exploiting a flaw in the game that allowed a cheating player to make multiple

copies of rare items, the sell them for massive profits.

• Duration - The length of time a static effect lasts. Example: Conditions, Enchantments or Hexes.

• Dye - Used to change the color of certain items, it's use is completely optional.

In Presearing Black Dye is the primary alternative currency for transactions exceeding 100K.

(With no Xunlai Storage, and a currency max per character of 100K platinum.)

E

• E - Abbreviation for either Energy or Ecto, dependant on the situation.

• Earshot - The "Range" in which a character can attack, or activate a skill.

Issuing a command from out of range will cause the character to close in on the foe.

• Easter Egg - Additional text, media or other special features and surprises that are

hidden within Games, DVDs, and other types of interactive media.

• Economy - A set of standards that ArenaNet designed to maintain financial balance

within the GW game world.

• Ecto- A Glob of Ectoplasm. In PostSearing a valuable rare material.

• Effect - Shows up in the Effects Monitor & applies only to those effects that are not equipable skills.

• Elite Skill – A skill that is more powerful than other skills. One elite skill can be equipped at a time.

• Emblem - The graphic that appears on a guild cape.

• Emote - A command that causes your character to animate an action.

• Enchantment – A spell that causes a positive effect for a period of time. Opposite of hex.

• End of the World Effect - When a character reaches the boundary of an instance, and walks on air.

• Energy - amount of mana a character has until it can no longer cast spells.

To find your energy look for the blue bar above your skills.

• Energy Management - Control of energy use and it's recovery to insure that

the player always has energy when it is needed.

• Enhancement - An item that adds a temporary or permanent bonus to your character or weapon.

• Environmental Effect - A permanent buff/debuff encountered in some areas.

• Equipment - Items kept in inventory and equipped by characters for combat. Mainly armor & weapons.

• Error 7 -The error code returned by Guild Wars after a server disconnect.

• EULA - End User License Agreement - The legal agreement between ArenaNet and GW Players.

The terms and conditions by which players must abide in order to use their GW accounts.

• Execute - The successful use of a skill.

• Exp: (1)Experience, the mechanism by which characters gain levels and skill points.

(2) Exp can also refer to an Experienced player.

• Exploit - A bug in the game that can be used to illegitimately benefit a character.

Using exploits can result in an account ban.

• Explorable Area - The areas between outposts and cities.

F

• Factions - The second campaign available to Guild Wars players.

Factions has many relations to Asian cultures.

• Faction (Alliance) - Kurzick or Luxon faction points used to gain alliance territory.

• Fail - Skill Failure due to unmet requirements or the affects of another skill.

All time, adrenaline, energy or health sacrifices are lost when a skill fails.

• Fame - Certain Ranks in PvP which show under a character's name if the title is displayed.

• Fansite - A website created by game fans, not the game developers,

that provides a service to the game's role playing community.

• Farming - Repeatedly killing the same things to repeatedly gain the same reward.

• Favor of the Gods - Reward granted to the world for noteworthy title achievements.

• First Person Perspective - When a player zooms all the way in, so that his character cannot be seen.

It gives an in game perspective as seen through their character's eyes.

• Fizzle - Opposite of execute. The unsuccessful use of a skill.

Tactically, this perspective is inferior since you cannot see in every direction.

• Fleshy Creature – A creature that leaves a corpse and that can be affected by all conditions.

• Focus Swap - A technique involving changing your equipment to avoid energy denial.

• Foe - The enemy. Any creature that can be targeted for attack. Foes appear red on the compass.

• Foe Behavior - Most monsters in the game follow the same basic AI.

They wander in a set range, attack if you enter their aggro circle, and have limited skills.

• Follower - An NPC who follows the first player who speaks to it. If they speak to it again,

it stops following and waits. Best Presearing Example: Gwen

• Footprints - Appear where your character has walked or run.

If you are running, little puffs of dust will rise where your character is stepping.

• Frame Rate - Simply speaking, the speed at which Guild Wars graphics appear to update.

Also could be called FPS, Frames per second.

• Freelancer - Someone that is not in a guild. Not many players are freelancers, because of guild benefits.

• Frog (The) - A very wise amphibian used by ANet as a way to address the community.

The Frog's words, usually cryptic riddles, appear in a gold font in All Chat.

• Frontline - Team members who are positioned the furthest foward in an attack.

It is usually melee characters such as warriors that take up this position.

• FTW - For The Win! Used to express approval for an idea or group or instance.

• FW - Favorable Winds. Ritual used by Ranger builds to increase damage done by arrows.

G

• GG/GJ/GL: Good Game/Good Job/Good Luck - Respectively.

• GLF - "Group Looking For..."

• Game Master - An In Game Administrator who can interact with other players.

They have the ability to make announcements, mark accounts & and suspend or ban players.

• Gate Monkey - GM - Opens the Gate at the North Wall, usually for a Fee or Tips.

• Gate Opener - A more polite way of hiring a GM. Many players find the term GM distasteful.

A GO is expected to map travel out of the party, after payment

(which usually takes place in the gate corridor), just before the employer enters the Northlands.

• Gimped - When a player is handicapped by being ill prepared for the situation they entered in to.

Examples include: Incorrect attribute settings, the wrong skills in a build, the wrong armor, etc.

(Warrior with attributes set to Strength & Hammer, when build is set up with Tactics and Sword skills.)

• Glitch - A minor bug that does not affect game play adversely.

Some players use glitches for their own advantage, sometimes breaching the EULA contract.

• Gods of Tyria - The Old Gods, or The 5 Original Gods - They created the World of Tyria.

• God's Statue - Of the Old Gods - Balthazar, Dwayna, Grenth, Lyssa & Melandru.

• Gold - The money used to trade in Guild Wars.

• Gold Sink - Removes currency from the in game economy via items offered by NPCs.

Gold sinks provide frequent players a status option, (usually very expensive like Chaos Gloves),

thereby keeping trade prices for regular items more stable.

• Green Dot - Appear on the compass as small circles or triangles.

These dots represent Allies, Friendly NPCs, Summons etc. as opposed to Red Dot Foes.

• Grind - Repetitive (often boring) gameplay done in order to gain levels, earn titles and other benefits.

• Guild - Many players joined together in a single group, usually with common interests.

• Guild Hall - The Outpost or home Base where members of a guild can meet each other.

Only players from Alliance guilds can visit that guild's hall, unless guest invited.

• Guildie - Casual term for a guild member.

• Guild Tag - Up to 4 letter guild identifiers, in brackets, after a player's name.

Players from the same guild will see fellow members tags in gold in towns and outposts.

• GH - Abbreviation of Guild Hall.

• GW Insider - Was a Periodical NewsLetter made and sent out by ArenaNet.

• GZ: "gratz", a way of saying congratulations for good drops or increasing in level, etc.

H

• HCT - Halves casting time of an attributes spells.

• Half Ranged - Literally halves the range of certain attack skills, in exchange for certain skill buffs.

• Handle - Another word for In Game Name. First used in the 1870's, it was considered slang for that era.

The original meaning remains, a nickname used to "grab" someone's attention.

• Hard Rez - Repeatable Resurrection spells.

• Headgear - A piece of armor specifically designed for a character's head.

• Healer - Any player equipped with the appropriate skills to heal himself and other party members.

• Heal Sink - A Player who constantly endangers himself, without adequate protection. This causes a

burden of time, plus wasted energy for a healer, who has to excessively heal that character.

• Health - HP - The amount of life a creature has. Your health is the red bar above your skills.

• Health Degeneration - Continual loss of health caused by certain conditions and hexes.

This does not count as damage taken.

• Health Gain - Just as it sounds, increases in Health.

• Health Loss - Just as it sounds, decreases in Health,

• Health Regeneration - The ability of a character or NPC to rebuild it's health over time.

This does not count as healing given.

• Helm - Specifically headgear worn by a Warrior.

• Hidden Stash - Barrels found in explorable areas. These can be empty, but are most often filled

with loot, probably belonging to nearby foes.

• Highly Salvageable - Designates weapons that will yield more common or rare items when salvaged.

• HM - Hard Mode, a higher difficulty setting from the usual Guild Wars.

• HO or H/O - Hang on.

• HoH – Hall of Heroes - A PvP environment located in Post Searing, it is

often seen mentioned in the Tyrian World announcements. (In the Chat Display Window.)

• HoM – Hall of Monuments in The Eye of the North.

• HoT - Healing over Time.

• HSR - Halves skill recharge. Affects only spells.

I

• IAS - Increased Attack Stance/Speed. Something which allows a character to attack faster.

• ID: (1) International District (2) Identify.

• Improved Sale Value - Only appears on blue weapons when identified.

Minimally or drastically improves the price of an item when sold to merchants.

• Infraction - A Violation of the Rules or the EULA. Usually results in Marks on the Account.

• Infuse – Infuse Health - Not to be confused with Infusion, which is done to armor in PostSearing.

• In Game Name - IGN - The name of a player's character or characters in Guild Wars.

• Inherent Modifier - Item upgrade which cannot be changed or salvaged. A part of the weapon itself.

A term used primarily to indicate a built-in inscription such as Energy +4 when HP above 50%.

also used loosely to describe universal bonuses such as the "+ energy" available to any staff,

or to invariable modifiers such as the prefix on a "Fiery" Dragonsword;

Found on weapon drops only in Prophecies & Factions.

• Inscription - Replaced (but not completely) the Primary Old School Inherent Modifier in both Nightfall & EotN.

A Salvageable upgrade component applicable to any Primary or off-hand weapon with an inscription slot.

Salvageable Inscriptions can not be found in Prophecies or Factions.

• Insignia - A "Prefix" upgrade attached to armor to boost certain profession benefits.

Examples: Health, Energy, Damage Reduction etc. Salvaged from armor items dropped by foes.

• Instance - A separate parallel copy of an explorable area created for each party who enters it.

Each instance contains the same NPCs and mobs, but no other human players except for that party.

This is what makes GW different from MMORPGs, and was designed to prevent "Griefing" & "Killsteals".

• In Succession - To queue 2 or more skills by invoking a second (or more)

while the first one is still activating.

• Interface - Or User Interface - On the game screen, all the adjustable elements which allow a player to

interact with the game. Interface is entered by pressing F11 on your keyboard.

• Interruption - Prevents a foe from completing it's current action.

• In The Area - In Range for an attack.

• Inventory: - The items in your bags. These are available by pressing "I".

• Invite & Self Invite - Click on a character. When their name appears in the Party List click the +.

• Invulnerability - A passive skill used by some creatures throughout the game.

Creatures affected by Invulnerability cannot be attacked and cannot be the targeted by skills.

They also do not take any damage, nor suffer from degeneration.

Example: The Swarms of Bees in Lakeside County.

• Item - Drops that go into your inventory. Money or gold is a special type of item or drop.

• Item Details - Bonuses and prices displayed when hovering your cursor over the item.

• Item Rarity - Determines an item's drop rate and value. In Presearing there are 3 levels of rarity:

1. White or common items which have no upgrades or modifiers.

2. Blue are common items which have lower range upgrades and modifiers.

Also, Blue is the only item color with "Improved Sale Value", throughout Prophecies & Factions.

* In NF & EotN this is replaced by the inscription "Show Me The Money" ,

And can be found on Purple and Gold weapon drops there as well.

3. Purple are considered uncommon items which have middle range upgrades.

In Presearing, it is the purple items that have the max stats for the tutorial area.

• Item Stacking - Groups of identical items stored in 1 single inventory space.

250 of any "Stackable Item" is considered to be a Full Stack.

All 13 items that the huntsman collects are stackable items.

J

• Jedi – A Force Sensitive individual trained under, and serving the Mystical Energies of The Force!

Hey - J is pretty sparse, it needed a bit of help here!

• Jedi Master - The most powerful Jedi in the Jedi Order.

Many masters become the leaders and teachers within the order. Work with me here...

There are also many Jedi Masters in GW, some of whom can be found in Ascalon City.

• Jedi Mind Tricks - An ability of the Force that allowed the Jedi to influence the thoughts,

and therefore sometimes actions, of other sentient beings.

J Looks a little better, don't you think? OR... J Looooks Muuuch Behhhhter Nowwww!

• JK - Just Kidding (How Appropriate!)

K

• K - (1) Used to denote 1,000 of something. When referring to gold, a simpler way to say platinum.

(2) Also often used as a shortened ok.

• Kill - To cause a targeted foe to die. The benefits gained from kills are XP, gold and loot.

• Killsteal - In MMORPGs, when a player comes along and steals the points for a kill,

after another player has spent much time whittling down the health of the foe before the kill.

GW has done away with that problem by creating each explorable area as an instance.

See instance above.

• KD - Abbreviation for Knockdown.

L

• LA – Lion’s Arch, a popular outpost in Prophecies for commerce, recruitment, and special events.

• Lag - The time and delay between client-server requests, usually measured in milliseconds.

Affects the timing between taking an action and seeing the result on the screen. See Latency.

• Landmark - Term used for an area of note, a building or other type of construction,

certain terrain, settlement or village, or any other point of interest found at a specific location.

Some landmarks are marked with signposts or other objects.

• Latency - Same as Lag - A green bubble means low latency, amber is acceptable, and red means

that the player should expect various issues with delays while playing.

• Leader - The Party Leader is the team member who first created the party.

• LDoA - Legendary Defender of Ascalon - Attained by reaching Level 20 in Presearing.

• Leech - To join a party and then go AFK, or otherwise contribute nothing to the party's goal.

• Level - Numerical indicator of a Player's power, with 1 being Low and 20 being High.

Max Health, Max Energy & Attribute Points are all dependent on a character's level.

• Level Up - Gaining enough experience to advance to the next numerical level.

Each added level grants the character additional Attribute Points, Energy, Health & Skill Points.

• Lern2Play - LRN2PLAY - L2P - A Rebuke to whiny players who complain without having made

any real attempts to learn the game, or advance themselves in any way.

• LF, LFG, LFP, LFT: "Looking For", "Looking For Group", "Looking For Partner" or "Looking For Party",

and "Looking For Team" respectively. Used to solicit party members in an outpost.

• LFR - "Looking For Run(ner)". Used to solicit party members for a run in an outpost.

• Life Stealing - When a player takes HP from a target adding it to his own.

In Presearing this skill is mainly accomplished by a Necromancer using Blood Magic Skills.

• Line of Sight - The clear path from you to your target,

• Linked Attribute - The specific attribute that a skill belongs to.

• Linked Skill - A skill that belongs to a specific attribute.

• Loot Scaling - The number of drops are scaled to party size and kill speed.

• LSoA - Legendary Survivor of Ascalon - When a player reaches the 1st Level of Survivor in Pre.

• LTB - "Looking To Buy".

• LTS - "Looking To Sell".

• LTT - "Looking To Trade".

M

• Mage - A Spellcaster. In GW specifically, another word for Elementalist.

• Mana - Uncommon way of saying energy.

• Map - A view of the World Map can be accessed by pressing M on the keyboard.

A view of the Area (or Mission) Map can be accessed by pressing U on the keyboard.

• Map Travel - A quick way to travel to unlocked outposts on the World Map.

(Accomplished by clicking on them.)

• Martial - Profession that uses physical attacks in melee coupled with a higher AR.

• Martial Weapon - Sword, Axes, Hammers, Shields, Bows. (In Post Only: Also Scythe & Spear.)

• MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

• Material(s) - Materials are used to craft many useful items. See

• Max - Refers to the maximum (i.e. "perfect") stats of an item.

Can be used in regards to armor, weapons or weapon mods.

• Meatshield - Generally, a pet or minions used to cause a distraction, and take the damage

for a character by body blocking and attracting aggro.

• Melee - Close combat.

• Meleemancer - Melee attacks combined with spell casting, usually Necro skills and minions.

• Melee Weapons - Generally the same as Martial Weapons with Pets & Minions.

• Merchant - An NPC who buys and sells items at a fixed rate.

• Micro - To Micromanage your build for specific purposes like training a pet.

• Miniatures - AKA Mini Pets. Acquired from Birthday Presents.

• Minion Master - MM - A necromancer who Animates Undead Minions.

• Minions - Animated Undead Servants of a Necromancer.

• Miss - An attack that fails to hit it's target.

• Mission - Basically larger versions of quests. They are used to advance the GW story line.

• Mission Starter - NPCs that allow players into missions after a dialogue.

Mission Starters have a Battle symbol over their heads.

• Mobile Object - Mob - In GW, a for or a party of foes.

• Monster Skills - Skills used by monsters and certain other NPCs in the GW game.

• Morale Boost - Temporary positive boost to health and energy by a fixed percentage.

• Movement - In game is controlled by the movement keys, or use of the mouse.

• Mule - Characters used to transfer items from 1 part of the game to another.

N

• Natural Regeneration - The Health Regeneration received by a player when they are not in

active combat. (Not losing health in combat or attacking foes.)

• Near or Nearby - Approximately 1/6 the size of the aggro bubble.

• Nerf - A change in the GW game mechanics that lessens the effectiveness of something in the game.

The dreaded update that renders certain skills, builds , styles of play and farm runs unviable.

• Newbie - A new player to the game.

• Noob - Generally unkind form of Newbie.

• Normal M•ode - NM - the default mode used in the game.

• NPC - Non Playable Character. They show up as "green" units on the map.

Some may turn into allies, while others could become enemies.

A few NPCs, such as Merchants offer special services.

• NRG - Energy

• Nuker: A character damaging more foes that are near to each other at the same time.

Usually refers to the Elementalist, but can mean other high-damage professions as well.

O

• OBO - Or Best Offer. Used for selling items.

• Object - Anything in the game that a player can target or select.

• Offhand - A Weapon wielded with another one handed weapon, enhancing armor, health or energy.

Offhands can be equipped, but their effects can not be utilized if a player is using

a two handed weapon.

• Optional - Usually empty skill slot filled by the player as he/she sees fit for use.

• Other Ally - Outside of one's self, it refers to only affecting someone on your team.

Often a skill which usually states "Cannot Self Target".

• Outpost - Smaller than a Town and offering fewer services. Another staging area where players can meet

to socialize, trade and/or form parties for farming or hunting, etc.

• Overcast - Same as Exhaustion. A Resource Cost required on certain Elementalist skills.

• Overextend - To wander too far from your party's healer, getting dangerously close to mobs.

• Owned - To be beaten very easily by an opponent who comes out hard and fast.

P

• PackRat - Players who have several storage characters on one or more accounts.

The storage characters hold everything from rare collections to mods etc.

• Paladin - Warrior/Monks - Originally from games like D&D where warriors had healing skills.

• Parent Spike - When a player suddenly leaves a game at his parents command.

• Party - More than 1 player grouped & hunting together in explorable areas.

• Party Area - The area of effect for any skills that will affect the whole party.

• Party Formation - While in an Outpost, inviting other characters to join you in a hunt or quest.

• Pathing - Determining how a mobile object, creature, etc will move from point A to point B.

• Patrol - A group of foes moving back and forth along a certain path or area.

• PBAoE - Point Blank Area of Effect. Special skills which have an AoE effect right next to the target.

• Perfect - Refers to any item that has maximum stats, often referred to as Godly.

• Perma Pre - A Term that refers to a character that, for whatever the player's reason,

is dedicated to Presearing Ascalon and chooses to stay there permanently.

• Pick Up Group -PUG - A party created mainly from strangers and other characters you don't know.

• Ping - Has 3 meanings in GW:

1. A small colored circle which appears briefly on the Compass to highlight a point of interest.

2. To ping a build means to send a build to team chat for team members to view.

3. As a reference to a player's lag, which is indicated on the Performance Monitor.

• Pip - Represents the constant generation of Health or Energy, whether positive or negative.

For Health 1 Pip = 2 HP per sec.

For Energy 1 Pip = 1 E per 3 sec.

Designated by arrows on the Health and Energy Bars, pointing right is gain while left is loss.

• Platinum - 1,000 Gold. Usually denoted by "K".

• Player - An account owner in control of characters, or the characters that the account owner controls.

• Pop Up - Foes who are hidden and only appear when triggered by something. Example : Nightmares.

• Portal Jumping - Crossing area boundaries without triggering an actual zone transition.

• Post Searing - Basically the rest of the game. The entirety of what happens after The Searing.

• Power Level - When a high level character takes a low level character out to hunt high level foes.

The kills provide the lower level character with large amounts of experience, leveling him up quickly.

• Presents - Or Gifts - Items that are opened to gain other items, like gold, miniatures, etc.

• Pressure - Dealing out a steady flow of damage on to a foe, forcing it to change position.

• Pressure Build - The skill set required to deal, & keep dealing, constant damage to a foe.

• Price check - PC - Used to get a specific item's current market value, requested in all chat in outposts.

• Primary Attribute - The main or key ability for each profession. Example: Warrior = Strength

• Primary Profession - The first Profession chosen when creating a character on a GW account.

• Priority Targeting - See "Calling a Target" - Focusing the entire party on 1 kill.

• Professions - The classes of all character, NPCs, or monsters. As in RL, it's job in the game.

• Projectiles - Bolts of energy or arrows emitted from long range spells & weapons.

• Prophecies - The original Guild Wars campaign.

• Protection - A Monk attribute with the skills to prevent damage before it occurs.

• PSCGO - Pre Searing Community Gate Opener - A Free GM.

• Pull - To lure an enemy group by targeting a single foe, usually to separate that group from another.

It prevents a double aggro, and is mostly done with a flat bow, which has the longest projectile range.

• Punishment - In GW usually skills that inflict penalties for a foes actions.

Example: Bane Signet - Causes Knockdown if target foe was attacking.

• PvE - Player vs. Environment.

• PvP - Player vs. Player.

• PvX - Abbreviation of PvXwiki, a Wiki Guide for Guild Wars builds for both PvE and PvP..

• Pwned - Same as Owned.

Q

• Q - Shorthand for requirement in trade-chat.

• QQ - Cry about it. Response to whiners. (Qs look like eyes dripping tears.)

• QQ More - Cry more.

• Quest - A task given by an NPC that your character can choose to complete, usually for a reward.

• Quest Giver - An NPC who offers you quests to complete in exchange for rewards,

XP, Gold, or other items.

Quest Givers usually have a green exclamation point over their heads.

• Quest Item - Pertaining to a quest or mission, it is an item that needs to be delivered, found, stolen,

etc. in order to complete the given quest or mission.

• Quest Log - Accessed by pressing L, the Quest Log is a record of quests a character has taken,

that have yet to be completed. In Post they are separated by region.

• Quitting - When a member of a team leaves the party for any number of reasons,

ranging from arguments with other players to having the wrong skills equipped.

R

• Radar - AKA The Compass - Helps the player to find their way around an area. The compass also

shows the locations of nearby enemy groups by the use of red dots.

• Ragequit - When a player leaves a team after an argument.

• Random - Used to describe players in a PUG. See Pick Up Group.

• Range - The distance at which a skill or attack will activate.

• Ranged - At a distance.

• Ranged Attack - Combat carried out with bows and staves. These attacks are more easily dodged.

• Recharge - The moment a skill is either completed or interrupted, it begins to charge for use again.

• Recharge Time - The exact amount of time it takes each individual skill or spell to charge back up.

• Red Dot - A small red circle on the compass indicating foes in the area.

• Regeneration - Regen – When the Health or Energy bar steadily increases by a set amount

based on the amount of regeneration used from between 1 to 10 "pips".

• Region - A Greater area of the game. Each region has at least 1 town and several outposts,

explorable areas and quest locations. Presearing Ascalon is the Tutorial Region for Prophecies.

• Relog - To log off of the game completely, and then log back on. This is done usually for GW updates,

but also to fix bugs, or reset game mechanics.

• Repairing Data Archive - When the log-in page delays while the GW Game Client rebuilds the

database stored in your computer. It can take up to 15 minutes.

This occurs when the client determines that there is a problem with the game's data files.

• Requirement – Req - Q - Attribute points needed to fully utilize a weapon.

• ReRoll - Deleting a character to recreate it. Usually done to Presearing Mules after transport to Post.

• Resign - Allows a party to leave an area as a group without any penalty.

• Resource Cost - Cost to use a skill or spell other than a single output of energy.

Specific costs are : Adrenaline, Upkeep, Sacrifice (often Blood), & Exhaustion (Overcast).

• Respawn - To spawn again. Most often refers to area of resurrection.

• Resurrect - Rez - To bring a dead team member back to life.

• Reward Trophy - A certain class of items that can be stored in inventory.

They are Stackable with Zero Value, and Cannot be Salvaged.

• Rezone - Leaving an instanced area and returning usually by use of a portal.

This is often done to avoid death or to reset foes for farm runs.

• Right Hand - The Primary Weapon of a Single Handed Set. Left Hand is the Offhand.

• Roleplay - Assuming a different identity to act out in a specific setting.

• Roleplaying Character - Giving life to a created identity by giving it a backstory and features.

• Roleplaying Game - RPG - The setting that the role playing character adventures in.

• Rubberbanding - Traveling to a point in the distance, and then being yanked back to where you began.

This is usually both a symptom and a result of lag, or latency.

• Rules of Conduct - A Code of Conduct. The User Agreement or EULA.

• Run: (1) To use a running or speed buff skill to increase how fast your character can move.

(2) To finish a quest or mission with the minimal amount of effort required,

often involving not killing many monsters.

(3) To get run by another character to a town, outpost, mission, etc.

without having to complete the required storyline.

(4) To have another character finish all the work needed to complete a certain quest or mission.

o Test Run: When a characters wants to test their strategy to "run" other players.

These runs are usually cheaper than pro runs.

o Pro Run: A run done by a very experienced player who has done the run before,

and has a high success rate of completing the run.

These runs generally carry a fee.

• Rushing - To complete something quickly. A Quick kill can have a positive effect on drops,

However, rushing also has the negative effect of over aggroing enemies.

S

• Sacrifice - A Resource cost to activate a skill, it is when a character forfeits a % of their HP.

• Salvage - Breaking down certain undesirable items to gather desirable materials from them.

• Scalp Design - Specifically, Headgear for a Monk, it is a tattooed design. (Obscured by hair.)

• Scam - When a player deceives another player causing loss of gold, valuable items or services.

•Scattering - When a group of enemies breaks aggro and/or moves out of range of an AoE attack, preventing further damage to their party.

Foes in NM do not scatter as easily as foes in HM do.

• Scraping - Most often used in mapping to uncover as much area as possible. Hugging the walls,

often referred to jokingly as Bouncing off the Walls!

• Screen Capture - A Screenshot, by using the Print Screen button to make a copy of the Game Screen.

• Scribe (The) - Was a weekly periodical put out by The Official GW Site, relaying IG stories,

news and other events from the perspective of a wandering scribe.

• Secondary Attribute - All attributes of a profession, other than primary, available to second professions.

• Secondary Profession - A back-up profession that broadens a characters skill range, it is preferable

to choose a profession that complements the primary profession of the character.

• Self Heal - Refers to skills that heal the caster, such a Troll Unguent.

• Server - A Data Center that Hosts and Coordinates Games. All Game Data are Saved There.

Players must connect to the server in order to play the games.

There is usually no offline playing available, not even for basic training or for the game tutorials.

• Shield Set - A Defensive Weapon Set for professions that do not normally use shields.

• Shutdown - To render an enemy useless in battle, and unable to cause any damage.

• Shutdown Mesmer - Uses Energy Drains, Interrupts, Skill Denials etc. to shutdown foes.

• Skill - A Gameplay Unit that bestows a certain ability to the character, as if learned.

Each character can use up to 8 learned skills in any build, for offense or defense.

• Skill Balance - A game update aimed at changing certain skills, to make them weaker or stronger,

in order to maintain a balance between all builds in the game.

• Skill Bar - An 8 slot bar on the game screen carrying all of the players equipped skills.

• Skill Chain - Using skills in a certain order to achieve a specific effect,

it takes advantage of the synergy between certain skills to make each more effective.

• Skill Details - The identifiable characteristics of a skill. (Name, Icon, Profession, Attribute, etc.)

• Skill Monitor - The part of the Interface that allows a player to see the skills and spells

used by other players, NPCs or foes in the area.

• Skill Nomenclature - How the skill's name describes it's effects and/or damage it will have.

• Skill Point - A resource gained by leveling up. Used to buy skills, craft weapons etc.

• Skill Queue - Keeps track of skills you attempt to use before completion of another.

• Skill Trainer - An NPC that "teaches" (sells) skills to your character.

• Skill Type - Every skill has a type, Whether it be Signet, Spell, Hex, etc.

• Skill Warmup - Timespan , from activation to completion, of your currently casted skill/spell.

• Skin - Appearance and Texture of a Weapon

• Skirmishers - ?/W class combinations, lacking the endurance to stay in melee like a primary warrior can,

however they can still provide a useful service in combat.

• Smiter - Any character that uses a Monk's Smiting Prayer skills.

• Snare - Any effect that slows movement speed.

• Soft - Same as Squishy. Mainly those Professions with Low AR.

• Soft Rez - Resurrection skill that requires a morale boost (Boss Kill) to recharge. Soft res skills tend to

have shorter activation times, but need morale boost opportunities to be effective in a build.

• Solo (Farming) - To defeat many foes in one area without any other party members.

• Spam - Rapidly repeating an action. Spamming can be used on low cost skills to deliver constant

damage. It can also be used to ingest consumables for Drunk, Party, or Sweet Titles.

In outposts Spamming can be done in chat and trade as well, but this is widely frowned upon.

• Spawn - To generate or place something on the gaming area.

Spawning after being killed is referred to as re-spawning, usually done at a res shrine.

• Spawn Point - The location where Mobs, NPC's, or Players commonly spawn.

• Special Event - ANet's way of celebrating Real World Holidays and Anniversarys.

• Species - Types of monsters or allies in the game. In Guild Wars 1, the only playable species is Human.

• Speedboost - When a character's speed is increased by the speed of certain skills or consumables.

• Spellcaster - The professions in GW that do battle by casting spells.

• Spellcasting Weapon - Weapons used by casters that cause Magical Damage. Staves & Wands.

• Sphere of Influence - Anything that shows up on your compass. The "Radar".

• Spike - To cause a large influx of something.

Spiking usually refers to spike damage, but can refer to spike healing or occasionally spike energy.

• Spike Damage - A massive amount of damage dealt to a one target over a short period of time.

(In contrast to a Nuker, who deals large amounts of damage to many targets over a period of time.

• Spike Energy - Refers to gaining or losing a large amount of energy in a short amount of time.

• Spike Healing - Deals a large amount of health over a short period of time.

The opposite of a spike heal is to heal over time by skills such as Troll Unguent.

• Splitting - Any type of splitting of your party and attacking on more than one front.

Usually having the other half of the team coming in from around the back.

• Squishy - A character with little defense (such as a low armor rating, {like casters}

no defensive skills or no self-healing abilities) that can easily be killed by attacking foes.

• Stack - In reference to stackable items, a maximum of 250 of the same.

Stacking can also refer to the effects of different skills and conditions adding up together.

• Staging area - In Presearing these are the Towns & Outposts, Enclosed non-instanced areas,

as opposed to explorable areas. They often offer services for players to purchase,

and serve as a meeting place to interact with other players.

• Stance - Posture that protects against attacks or improves an offensive,

resulting in an advantage in battle.

• Stance Tank - A warrior that relies almost entirely on stances to increase defenses.

• Starter Weapon - The very first weapon a newly created character receives.

• Status Effect - Any effect that alters the abilities of a character. Most are visible on the Effects Monitor.

• Storage - Lacking in Presearing, a Vault Box or Storage Service offered by the Xunlai Guild.

• Stray - A ranged projectile that fails to hit it's target.

• Summoned creature - In Presearing the only summons are the Bonus Fire Imp & Minions.

• Suspension - The blocking of an account resulting from in game infractions.

• Sweep - When a single party members goes ahead to "scout" or trigger any traps.

• Sync - Synchronize - In Presearing this can be done only with the emotes.

• Synergy - Two or more skills which work well together and which, when combined,

are more effective then when used alone.

T

• Tame - To charm an animal. The animal must be no more than 4 levels above you.

• Tank - A well armored and protected front line character. It's job is to distract the enemy,

and draw fire, taking little damage while the party deals damage to the enemy unharmed.

• Target - The designated foe to receive an attack.

• TBA - To Be Announced.

• Team - Temporary Party Assignment.

• Teleport - To Map, or Zone, or Resurrect. Move from one point to another instantaneously.

• Territory - Area of the Real World which forms a gaming community.

In GW these territories are designated by districts.

• The Bear Hunters - A minigame in Presearing. Kill a bear in less than 3 minutes to get Hunter's Ale.

• Timed Attack - An attack skill with an activation time.

• Titles - In Game acknowledgement of an achievement. Can be displayed by the character.

• Touch Ranger - Ranger/Necro - Using Necro Touch blood skills to steal health.

• Tome - PostSearing item used by PvE characters to learn unlocked skills.

• Town - The main outpost of a area. It has various NPCs such as merchants that provide services.

• TS - Teamspeak, a product which allows players to communicate with each other in real time.

• Trade - Giving an item from one character to another, usually using the Trade command.

• Trader - Unlike merchants who buy and sell at fixed prices, Traders prices vary according to

supply and demand, and can even be "Out of Stock" on certain items.

• Tyria - The name of the continent that Presearing characters walk and interact on.

It is also the Guild Wars world's name.

U
• Unique Item - Green Items randomly dropped by bosses. Example: Charr Bags

• Unlinked Skill - A skill that is not linked to any particular attribute, and as such it's effects

are not affected by any attribute rank. It's effects will not vary. Example: Resurrection Signet

• Unlock - Learning any skill by whatever means unlocks it for the entire account.

As does identifying any weapon or armor unlock every mod, rune and insignia involved.

• Upkeep Monitor - Displays all of the enchantments that are currently being maintained.

• User Agreement - The EULA - Describes the rules and parameters for playing the game.

V

• Vampiric Strength - Inherent modifier - Increases damage by 14...15% - cost = one pip of Health degen.

Only found on weapon drops in Prophecies and Factions.

Note: Effects of this stack with the 20% damage bonus received from customizing the weapon.

• Vanguard Foe - Foes that spawn during a quest taken from Lieutenant Langmar.

They are a special grouping of foes because you must be L10 to fight them,

They only give experience, and are not affected by weapon upgrades.

• Vault - Xunlai Storage - Often spoken of but unavailable in Presearing.

• Vault Box - Xunlai Storage Chest - Same as above.

• Vendor - Merchants , Crafters & Traders.

• Voice chat - Form of communication using a microphone, speakers and a headset during gameplay.

W

• Waamo - Term used to describe a Warrior Monk.

• Wanding - Auto attacking with a wand or staff. This can be done for serveral good reasons,

but also is generally done due to low energy or skill recharge.

• WASD - Hot Keys for easy left hand use while working with the mouse on the right.

They are: • W - Walk Forwards - (= Up arrow)

• A - Turn Left - (= Left arrow)

• S - Walk Backwards - (= Down arrow)

• D - Turn Right - (= Right arrow)

• WC or W/C - "Wrong chat."

• Weapon Attribute - Every point placed on your weapon attributes increases your

chance of a critical hit and damage while wielding that type of weapon.

• Weapon Mastery - An ability that increases the effectiveness, or critical hit chance,

of a particular weapon by a certain percentage. Most often gained by suffix mods.

• Weapon Inherent Modifiers - Built in effects on a weapon that cannot be salvaged.

Example : Reduces Blindness by ?%.

• Weapon Swap - Switching out your wielded weapon(s) to another (set) by pressing F1-F4.

• Weapon Sets - Preset slots in your inventory, with hotkeys, for equipping

different weapons for easy swapping. See Weapon Sots in GW Wiki.

• Weapon Upgrade - Prefix and Suffix enhancement parts for health, energy, and a wide array of others,

found on a weapon drop, that can be salvaged for use on better weapons.

• Wipe - When the entire party is wiped out, or dies.

• WTB - "Want To Buy".

• WTS - "Want To Sell".

• WTT - "Want To Trade". A character wanting to trade one item for another.

X
• X - Usually used in discussion about builds to signify that a 2nd profession is irrelevant.

Examples: R/X or Mo/X.

• XP - Experience points.

• Xunlai - Reference to the Xunlai Banking Guild which did not come into being in Tyria until after

The Searing of the Ascalonian Region.

Y
• Yoda - Legendary Grand Master of the Jedi Order. His connection to "The Force"

was greater than most other Jedi Masters. He trained Jedi warriors for over 800 years.

(* Hey, Y needs help too! )

• You - Refers to the person reading the message. You also refers to the person using a skill,

if another player is reading the effects of that skill on the monitor.

Z

• Z Rank - Zaishen Rank - Title earned by opening Zaishen Chests in Post Searing. There are many

Presearing characters that also have characters in Post who have achieved this title.

By using the /zrank emote they can summon a weapon display that corresponds to their rank.

• Zealous strength - Inherent modifier - increases damage by 14...15% - cost = one pip of energy degen.

Only found on weapon drops in Prophecies or Factions.

Note: Effects of this stack with the 20% damage bonus received from customizing the weapon.

• Zone - An Area of the game, with one or more boundaries exiting to other zones.

• Zone Out - When a player leaves an area without his/her team mate.