Glossary - Elder Scrolls Online Acronyms

kijima

Thanks to @Leftraru for pointing out that there is no Glossary for all the Acronyms that get thrown around this forum all day, every day.

It sometimes can be a bit hard for someone new to Elder Scrolls to follow the conversation. So if it's all new to you, this might help... hopefully.

AD - Aldmeri Dominion
AFK - Away from Keyboard
Aggro - how threatening a monster finds you, and decides who to hit.
AH - Auction House
AoE - area of effect
API - application programming interface
AvA - alliance versus alliance
Buff - An effect that makes a gaming character stronger
DC - Daggerfall Covenant
DK - Dragonknight
DoT - Damage over time
DPS - Damage per second
EP - Ebonheart Pact
ESO - The Elder Scrolls Online, the game.
FOV - Field of view (in context FOV slider)
FPS - Frames per second
HOT - Heal over time
LFG: look for group
LMB - Left mouse button
MMO - A massively multiplayer online game
MMORPG - Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mob - Hostile NPC's
Mundus - The plane or realm of existence that encompasses Nirn, its moons and attendant planets
NB - nightblade
Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character weaker
Nirn - The planet on which the Elder Scrolls is set
NPCs -Listing of all non-player characters in the game
OOM - Out of Mana
OP - Over Powered
Proc - "programmed random occurrence", i.e. random additional buff when using a skill
PuG - pick up group
PvE - Player versus environment
PvP - Player versus Player
RMB - Right mouse button
RPG - Role playing game
Tank - a character built to withstand repeated and excessive physical blows, so as to divert, distract, or absorb 
TESO - The Elder Scrolls Online
UESP - The Unofficial Elder scrolls Pages
UI - user interface
WTB - Want to buy
WTS - want to sell
XP - Experience
ZOS - ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer of the game

Furgus

First listed PvP is infact PvE I am sure all of you will figure that out but though I would mention anyway.

Ariane

Thanks! These kind of guides are very helpful for new gamers I would add too:

AoE: area of effect
AvA: alliance versus alliance
DK: dragonknight
DoT: damage over time
LFG: look for group
NB: nightblade
Proc: "programmed random occurrence", i.e. random aditional buff when using a skill
PuG: pick up group

kijima

Thanks @Ariane I'll add them to the list.

@Furgus thanks for the pickup

Fexelea

Thank you for this! I've added it to the wiki's FAQ since it's some really useful information: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/FAQ

One note: Nerf says
Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character stronger
I imagine this means
Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character/item weaker

Or do I have the meaning of Nerf confused xD

murpf

Nerf is a character getting weaker. but it more so applies to a patch change made by the dev teams. the word i believe the op is trying to describe is a debuff.

but to add,

WTS: short form for want to sell example in chat say: WTS leather
WTB: same as above but want to buy
Aggro: aggro is the same as threat, basically its how threatening a monster finds you, and decides who to hit. example: tanks usually give out high amounts of aggro/threat to maintain monsters hitting them.
Mob: is basically a npc but this term is usually used by players to address hostile npc's.
oom: out of mana. pretty self explanatory.
HOT: heal over time. the opposite of a DOT.

There is much more, but this is all i can think of off the top of my head.

have fun people.

murpf

hmm i also forgot to add, but there really is no point to include auction house info. since there apparently is not one included in eso.

kijima

murpf wrote: »

hmm i also forgot to add, but there really is no point to include auction house info. since there apparently is not one included in eso.

Yes, however the fact AH isn't in game seems to be getting quite a bit of air play on the forum currently. That's why I thought I'd put it in there.

kijima

Fexelea wrote: »

Thank you for this! I've added it to the wiki's FAQ since it's some really useful information: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/FAQ

One note: Nerf says
Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character stronger
I imagine this means
Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character/item weaker

Or do I have the meaning of Nerf confused xD

When I was writing them out, before I put them in order alphabetically, I wrote buff and nerf at that same time since they are opposites, thanks for the pickup, I'll edit that now.

kijima

Thankyou to @murph I'm adding in yours now.

Auldjohn

@kijima‌,

Shared your Glossary of Acronyms on our Guild site's New Members Guides section, giving you full attribution. Great summary that is really useful, especially to players new to MMORPGs.

OK with you? (Sorry, I should have asked first).

PM me with your response.

Zerl

Gank - Catching a Player(s) by surprise
Zerg - Movement of a large mass of Players

I'm sure there are more, but I'm meant to be working so I didn't have alot of time.

kijima

Auldjohn wrote: »

@kijima‌,

Shared your Glossary of Acronyms on our Guild site's New Members Guides section, giving you full attribution. Great summary that is really useful, especially to players new to MMORPGs.

OK with you? (Sorry, I should have asked first).

PM me with your response.

All good, and you have a PM.

Thanks @Zerl‌

murpf

np, but you need to correct nerf. its not : Nerf - An effect that makes a gaming character stronger. a nerf is weakening a class/spec/weapon to bring it inline with other class/spec/weapons.

there is also

op- over powered.

Sentience_Seeker

I'd also suggest adding DC, AD, and EP for Daggerfall Covenant, Aldmeri Dominion, and Ebonheart Pact, respectively.

MistryssNite

What is this AFK that I keep seeing? You might also want to add some general chat acronyms.

kijima

MistryssNite wrote: »

What is this AFK that I keep seeing? You might also want to add some general chat acronyms.

AFK = Away from Keyboard

How did I miss that one, thanks @MistryssNite‌

Auldjohn

@kijima‌

@Casdha‌ (TESG's Master Sage Turn2) added to the following to my repost on our Guild site:
OOM Out of Magicka
TES The Elder Scrolls

@Aren_Liore‌ (also a TESG Master Sage) added the already mentioned:
AD Aldmeri Domnion
DC Daggerfall Covenant
EP Ebonheart Pact

I suggest:
AAK Asleep At Keyboard
BIO Biology Break (polite for bathroom break)
CU Short for 'bye
EU EU Megaserver
FRD Fus Ro Dah!
L8R See you later
NA NA Megaserver
TTFN 'Bye

phermitgb

couple of enhancements and additions...

I've seen DW being used a lot, which is short for "dual wielding"

TTFN actually stood at some point for "ta ta for now!" which, as explained above, basically means goodbye - just like CU is short for "see you (later), which is the front end of L8R, short of course for "(see you) later."

since we're starting to refer to the weapon skill lines with abbreviations like DW, you might also want to include
1H (1-handed weapons)
2H (2 handed weapons)

not sure what the common abbreviations are for Sword and Board (SnB?), or the bow skills, or the staff skills, but there's some additions for you if you want

also, PnP (short for Pen-and-Paper, a reference to pen-and-paper based role playing games) might not be a bad idea to include - I've seen it several times in the earlier bethesda hosted forums, and it probably pops up here every now and then

fosley_ESO

I'm sure half the people in the game couldn't tell the different anyways, but since you've got most of them using title case: It should be "FoV" and "HoT", because the prepositions ("of" and "over") are lower case when written in a title. Hypothetically, Looking for Group should be title case, but I have *always* seen it written as "LFG", "LFR", "LFD", etc., so unless someone else has other experience I'd leave that one alone, along with "FPS" and "OOM".

I've seen it "officially" stated that acronyms are always upper case no matter what, and others stating that they should follow title case, so I don't think either is wrong, per se. I'd just suggest picking one format or the other and using it. You could also fix several of the definitions, since you go back and forth on that, but that annoys me slightly less.

As for "nerf", it doesn't inherently refer to the character. If you nerf a boss, the boss is weaker. If you nerf an ability, the ability is weaker. So nerfs can effectively make the player stronger *or* weaker, depending on the context. To my knowledge, it basically means "turned my super epic bow into a Nerf bow", which is a toy that shoots foam arrows that are (mostly) harmless to humans -- or dragons.

You might also add in:
- "debuff", an effect that makes the target weaker
- "DD", "damage dealer", a character whose primary role is dealing damage
- "HPS", heals per second, a measurement of healing output during a fight
- "toon", just refers to a character, probably from Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- "squishy", refers to any character who can't take much damage before dying
- "threat", another word for "aggro"
- "lag", which means any kind of stutter or slowdown in the game
- "latency", which technically is the same as "lag", but usually refers to network ping times, or the time it take to get data from you to the server and back
- "WTT", or "want to trade"
- "RNG", for "random number generator", refers to the game's algorithms to determine if an ability hit and for how hard, or what loot dropped, etc.
- "exp", short for "experience" (I've also seen "EP", but not in a while)
- "WTH", "WTF", "WTFH", meaning "what was that about?", generally considered somewhat rude, in order from weakest to strongest in "offensiveness".

And you might update the definition of "DPS" to include both "a measurement of damage output during a fight", and "a character whose primary role is dealing damage".

Also, a "tank", in modern usage, is a class designed to dodge, mitigate, or absorb damage with high efficiency (you mostly said this), as well as maintain the highest threat against enemies, so the enemies mostly attack only said tank (you neglected this part, though my beta experiences as a healer show this part of tanking might be a bit less absolute than EQ or WoW tanking).

Fexelea

So many more that I hadn't thought of. Thank you everyone and Kijima for keeping OP updated

irdalove

gotta have twink in there too!

Spike914

Thanks for posting this Kijima!

Zakalwe

FF - Focus Fire. Used to denote a target all members of the group should direct their attacks against. E.g. "FF Sent" Would mean "Focus Fire Sentinels (because the stupid templar healer forgot how to dodge attacks!)"

Nivinfarr

Sorry about the necro, but this seems like the right place to ask: What does vDSA mean?

Elsonso

vDSA = Veteran Dragonstar Arena

(or just DSA for short, if context of Normal/Veteran is already known)

kijima

This thread will probably get another necro in June with the console release I'd wager.

Cuyler

kijima wrote: »

This thread will probably get another necro in June with the console release I'd wager.

Oh yeah. lets keep it undead!

CS - Champion system
CPs - Champion Points
VR - Veteran Rank
Pledge - Daily random dungeon quest
Gold Key - Optional daily veteran dungeon quest reward
Cyro - Cyrodiil
"E" - Enlightenment (e.g. XP gain boost)
"I" - Inspiration (e.g. crafting XP)
Grind - Repetitively kill NPC mobs for XP.
Farm - Repetitively collect crafting materials and/or complete dungeons for specific gear (e.g. helm farming).

IMO, IMHO - in my opinion, in my humble opinion
IIRC - If I recall correctly

Any dungeon name i.e.

SO - Sanctum Ophidia
AA - Aetherian Archive
HRC, HR - Hel Ra Citadel
DSA, vDSA - Dragonstar Arena, Veteran Dragonstar Arena
CoA, vCoA - City of Ash, Veteran City of Ash
DsC - Darkshade Caverns
EH - Elden Hollow
FG - Fungal Grotto
BC - Banished Cells and/or Blessed Crucible
SC - Spindleclutch
WS - Wayrest Sewers
CoH - Crypt of Hearts
AC - Arx Corinium
DfK - Direfrost Keep
SW - Selene's Web
TI - Tempest Island
VF - Volen Fell
VoM - Vaults of Madness
BH - Blackheart Haven

Did I miss any?

cyclonus11

CC - Crowd Control
MoL - Maw of Lorkhaj
OP - Overpowered or Original Post/Poster
v - Veteran version of Dungeon/Trial (proceeds dungeon/trial's acronym)
MA - Maelstrom Arena
RNG - Random Number Generator (for determining loot, damage, etc.)

devilsTear

What does RvR stand for?

nordsavage

UESP.net has had one for a long time.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Abbreviations_and_Terms