Abbreviations

Overview

This page provides a quick, single page guide to abbreviations used in chat and other places in Guild Wars. It's meant to be a practical guide for users who are new to the game and need some help understanding the lingo.

Rules for adding content:

• The page does not aim to be all encompassing, but rather to cover:
  • Terms that are likely to be encountered (i.e. if you haven't seen it used commonly in chat, then don't add it).
  • Terms that are not commonly known, and are not obvious. (e.g. don't add "lol" means) or explain that "u" == "you".)
    • However, there's some space for semi-commonly known terms at the end under Chat (Generic).
• If the abbreviated and non-abbreviated terms are both common, list both.
• If the term varies in capitalization, just list the most common abbreviation. (e.g. AB instead of Ab.)

Guild tags

Guild tags are the 2-4 letter tags appended to the name of players that belong to guild. e.g. if a player named Budweiser belongs to a guild "King of the Beers" with tag KotB, then their name in-game will look like "Budweiser [KotB]".

Guild tags are not necessarily abbreviations, and are not necessarily unique. e.g. all guilds that belong to the NiTe alliance use the tag "NiTe" and are all named something like "Dragons of winter [NiTe]", so that the appended guild tag is actually part of the name.

Guild tags can also be used to continue a phrase started with the guild name; i.e. "We Are Afraid Of The [Dark]", and, as stated above, may share a tag with a guild named "Dark Knights [Dark]".

Guild Wars

Guild Wars specific terms.

Abbrev.	Expansion	Details
15^50	15^50	A weapon modification that give the weapon +15% more damage while the user is above 50% of their total max health. Named "Strength and Honor" if it is an inscription.
20/20	20/20	A weapon with a 20% chance of having 20% armor penetration.
40/40	40/40	A wand and off-hand set that each have "Halves casting time of attribute's spells (Chance: 20%)" and "Halves skill recharge of attribute's spells (Chance: 20%)" modifications on them.
55 or 55 monk or invincible monk	55 monk	A monk (or almost any other profession) that uses a combination of certain skills and 55 health to farm.
AB	Alliance Battle	PvP battles that determine control of the Kurzick-Luxon border between the Kurzicks and the Luxons.
AE	America English Territory	Abbreviation for America English district
AoE	Area of Effect	A skill or gameplay mechanic that effects creatures in a specific radius.
CA	Codex Arena	A player versus player arena where 4-person teams have a limited number of skills to choose from, which changes daily.
CoF	Cathedral of Flames	A Dungeon in Eye of the North that starts from Doomlore Shrine
cons or conset	Consumable Set	An Essence of Celerity, Armor of Salvation, and Grail of Might. Cons can refer to any of them separately. Often used together for especially difficult areas or for certain farms.
D, Derv, or derv	Dervish	Playable character profession. A Nightfall campaign-specific character type.
dis, D	District	As in districts of towns/outposts/mission stages.
DoA	Domain of Anguish	A special explorable area in Guild Wars Nightfall.
E, Ele or ele	Elementalist	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
EL	Everlasting tonic	Tonics whose use do not contribute to the Party Animal title track, but which are not consumed upon use.
EoE	Edge of Extinction	Short for Edge of Extinction, a ranger ritual often used in a lot of elite areas.
EU	Europe Territory	Short for the Europe Territory/District. Normally the English districts
ecto	Glob of Ectoplasm	A Rare crafting material dropped in the Underworld, due to its rarity it is used as an alternative currency.
EotN or eotn	Eye of the North	Refers to the area or areas accessible with the expansion pack labeled as Eye of the North.
FA	Fort Aspenwood	Competitive Mission where the Luxons, lead by a Luxon Commander are invading a Kurzick fortification, to prevent Master Architect Gunther from developing a weapon called Gods' Vengeance to be used against them.
FoW	Fissure of Woe	A special map area only accessible from certain locations, requiring a certain action to access.
fac	(Balthazar) Faction Points
GM	Gate Monkey	Predominantly a Pre-Searing term. Refers to a player who will join another player's party to open a gate or operate a lever for them to access a certain section of the map. This service is usually performed in return for payment of some sort. A good example is to open the gate North of Ascalon City in order to access The Northlands.
GM also refers to	Game Master	An in-game administrator who works for ArenaNet or NCsoft and who can interact with players in-game, make announcements, ban and suspend accounts, and tag accounts with an account mark.
GH	Guild Hall	A meeting place for the members of a particular guild to be able to gather. Often contains merchant services available in towns and outposts. Not accessible to characters still in the Pre-Searing area of the Prophecies campaign.
GotH, GOTH or goth	Gift of the Huntsman	An abbreviation usually used in Pre-Searing Ascalon for Gifts of the Huntsman given by Nicholas Sandford.
GotT, GOTT or gott	Gift of the Traveler	An abbreviation usually used for Gifts of the Traveler given by Nicholas the Traveler.
GvG	Guild versus Guild	Strategic form of PvP which matches two teams of eight players from different guilds against each other in the Guild Halls.
HA	Heroes' Ascent	Continuous global tournament between teams of 8 players from all over the world. Teams compete in several arenas in sequence before finally meeting in the Hall of Heroes, where they may win valuable loot.
HCT	HCT	Halves casting time, a modification that can be found on weapons.
HM	Hard Mode	A higher difficulty level that can be unlocked by completing a campaign. As opposed to Normal Mode.
HoM	Hall of Monuments	A feature added in Eye of the North to allow the accomplishments of a player in Guild Wars to benefit the player in Guild Wars 2.
HoS	Heart of the Shiverpeaks	A dungeon and a primary quest in Eye of the North.
HSR	HSR	Halves skill recharge, a modification that can be found on weapons.
imba	Imbagon	Short for imbalanced Paragon. Uses There's Nothing To Fear and Save Yourselves to provide significant damage reduction to a party.
Int	International Territory	Short for International, as in International district/territory
JQ	Jade Quarry	Competitive mission where the Luxons and Kurzicks fight each other to see which faction can maintain control over jade resources.
KoaBD	Kind of a Big Deal	"Kind of a Big Deal," the title track for maxing titles.
LA	Lion's Arch	Lion's Arch is the main city of the Kingdom of Kryta and the primary trading port of the continent of Tyria.
LDoA	Legendary Defender of Ascalon	Title obtained upon getting to level 20 while still within the Pre-Searing area of the Prophecies campaign.
LFG	Looking for Group	Someone looking for a group to join for some purpose. e.g. "LFG Charr Hunting.'
LFR	Looking for Runner	Someone (typically low level) looking for a run to a given destination. e.g. "LFR to LA".
lp or pick	Lockpick	Opens any locked chest in an explorable area.
Max	Perfect	Perfect is used to describe weapons, armor, and weapon upgrades with the maximum possible stats or bonuses for its type.
Me, Mes, mes and mez	Mesmer	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
MM	Minion Master	A Necromancer or Ritualist specializing in raising Minions.
Mo	Monk	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
N, Necro or necro	Necromancer	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
NF	Guild Wars Nightfall	The third campaign of Guild Wars.
NM	Normal Mode	The default difficulty level. As opposed to Hard Mode.
obby or obby shard	Obsidian Shard	Rare crafting material used for highly prized Obsidian armor.
Para, para or gon	Paragon	Playable character profession. A Nightfall campaign-specific character type.
PBAoE	Pbaoe	Stands for Point-blank Area of Effect. An area of effect skill or gameplay mechanic that originates from the caster.
PC	Price Check	Someone asking for going price on a given item. Typically asked within a guild or alliance prior to attempting sale/purchase.
perma	Perma Shadow Form	Builds oriented towards permanently maintaining Shadow Form, protecting the user from attacks and spells. See also: SF.
Perma pre or perma-pre	Permanent pre-Searing character	A character that stays in pre-searing, usually trying to achieve the LDoA (Legendary Defender of Ascalon) title
P or Para or para	Paragon	Playable character profession. A Nightfall campaign specific character type.
PM or pm	Private Message	I.e. a whisper, so "pm me" means "whisper me". "psst" is also occasionally used.
Pre	Pre-searing	The introductory stage of GW Prophecies. Ends when the player completes the first mission.
Proph	Guild Wars Prophecies	The first Guild Wars campaign.
Post	Post-Searing	Usually only used in pre-searing (see above entry) and just after leaving Pre-Searing.
PvE	Player versus Environment
PvP	Player versus Player
q	Requirement	Refers to the attribute requirement of an item. Often seen in trade (WTS/WTB) messages, e.g. "wtb q9 celestial bow"
R	Ranger	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
RA	Random Arenas	Player versus Player arenas where two teams of four people battle each other across thirteen different maps.
Req	Requirement	Refers to the attribute requirement of an item. Often seen in trade (WTS/WTB) messages, e.g. "wts req 7 shield str max gold celestial".
Rit, rit or Rt	Ritualist	Playable character profession. A Factions campaign-specific character type.
Sin or sin	Assassin	Playable character profession. A Factions campaign-specific character type.
Shard	Obsidian Shard or Jadeite Shard	More often referring to Obsidian Shards, these are rare crafting materials.
SoO	Shards of Orr	A dungeon.
SC	Speed clear	Completing an objective as quickly as possible in order to get the reward as quickly as possible. Usually prefaced with an abbreviation of what is being speed cleared.
SF	Shadow Form	An elite Shadow Arts skill that is used for tanking and farming. See also: perma. May also be used for Searing Flames.
SS	Spiteful Spirit	An elite Curses skill.
TA	Team Arenas	PvP arenas where two groups of four organized players battle each other. Has been removed in an update.
UW	Underworld	A special map area only accessible from certain locations, requiring a certain action to access.
UWSC or uwsc	Underworld Speed Clear	Clearing the Underworld as quickly as possible.
VQ or vanq	Vanquish	Killing every enemy in an explorable area in hard mode.
Vsf	Voltaic Spear Farming
W, wa, or War	Warrior	Playable character profession. Considered 1 of the 6 core professions.
WiK	War in Kryta	War in Kryta is the name for the updates released by ArenaNet beginning in March 2010, related to the war between the Shining Blade and White Mantle.
Wammo	Warrior/Monk	A derogatory term for a Warrior/Monk. It is formed from the combination's acronyms: W/Mo.
WTB	Want to Buy	e.g. WTB Black Dye.
WTS	Want to Sell	e.g. WTS White Dye.
WTT	Want to Trade	e.g. WTT Voltaic Spear for Globs of Ectoplasm
Zkey	Zaishen Key	A chest key that, because of its rarity and price, is often used as currency.
ZM	Zaishen Mission	The daily zaishen mission.

Generic chat

Chat terms that you may see anywhere, not just in Guild Wars. For much longer list, see Webopedia.

Abbrev.	Expansion	Details
afk	Away From Keyboard	To indicate that player has stepped away from keyboard. When used as an emote (/afk) triggers the sitting animation. Sitting is an informal way to indicate that you're not around, but is only useful for players who can see you. A more useful action is to set your player status to "Away" in the Friends List window.
bbl	Be Back Later
bbiab	Be Back In A Bit
brb	Be Right Back or BathRoom Break
ftw	For The Win	A common expression among players to say something is good.
ftl	For the loss
fr	Full run
gg	Good Game/Good Going
gj	Good Job
gl	Good Luck
gn	Good Night
grats, gratz or gz	Congratulations
hf	Have Fun
ign	In Game Name
irl	In Real Life	carry over from online chat rooms
k/kk	Okay
nn	Night Night
np	No Problem
nvm	Never Mind
ty	Thank You
tyt	Take your time
tyvm	Thank you very much
yw	You're welcome
Wc or w/c	Wrong chat
whoru	Who Are You
omw	On My Way

See Also

• Category:Glossary
• Category:Abbreviations
• Abbreviations at Webopedia
• Guild, by Tag