Guide · October 30, 2026

WoW Forever Glossary: Terms Players Use, Defined

This glossary defines 60 terms players use in World of Warcraft: Forever (WoW Forever), from tank, healer and aggro to Skyborne, rulesets, Legacy Points and Early Name Reservation, and each entry names the source it comes from. General terms come from the Warcraft Wiki and a player glossary; Forever terms come from Blizzard's posts and Warcraft Tavern, as of October 30, 2026.

Quick answer: Roles and combat words are general game terms, while Skyborne, rulesets, Familiar Faces and Legacy Points are Forever's own.

WoW Forever glossary map: 60 terms in eight groups of 10, 9, 10, 6, 5, 9, 8 and 3 terms, from roles and threat to interface terms. — The eight groups of terms in this WoW Forever glossary, with the number of entries in each.

Every road has its own tongue, and a new traveler picks it up within a week.

What do tank, healer and DPS mean?

Tank: a character whose main job in a dungeon or raid is to absorb damage and keep others from being attacked (Warcraft Wiki).
Healer: a role that focuses on restoring health to players, typically during combat (WowVendor glossary).
DPS: damage per second, or a player who deals damage (Warcraft Wiki; WowVendor).
Aggro: which enemy is attacking a given player; the player "has aggro" or has "pulled aggro" (Warcraft Wiki).
Threat: a measure of an NPC's aggression toward another unit; the unit at the top of its threat table is usually the one it attacks (Warcraft Wiki).
Taunt: an ability tanks use to put themselves atop an NPC's threat table (Warcraft Wiki).
Pull: drawing enemies to a specific location, typically to fight (WowVendor).
Add: an extra enemy that joins a fight, usually by accident (Warcraft Wiki).
Mob: any non-player character in the game (WowVendor).
NPC: a non-player character (Warcraft Wiki).

What do crowd control, kiting and the global cooldown mean?

Crowd control (CC): spells and abilities that "limit an opponent's ability to participate" in a fight; the wiki's examples include stun, fear, polymorph and root (Warcraft Wiki). See crowd control explained.
Kiting: "running away from an enemy while staying in combat with them" (Warcraft Wiki).
Global cooldown (GCD): the cooldown that starts every time you start to use a spell or ability (Warcraft Wiki).
AoE: area of effect; spells that hit several enemies in an area (Warcraft Wiki; WowVendor).
DoT: damage over time (Warcraft Wiki).
HoT: healing over time (Warcraft Wiki).
Buff: a beneficial spell, or a change that makes a class stronger (Warcraft Wiki).
Debuff: a temporary negative effect applied to a character or enemy (WowVendor).
Proc: a special, often random, event triggered by an action, ability or condition (WowVendor).

What do PvE, PvP, LFG and loot terms mean?

PvE: player versus environment (Warcraft Wiki).
PvP: player versus player (Warcraft Wiki).
LFG: looking for group (Warcraft Wiki). Forever's LFG window is the Classic one and does not form groups automatically (Warcraft Tavern, September 14, 2026).
Need: players who select Need roll first for an item, and the high roller wins; the wiki's Loot page describes the original rules (Warcraft Wiki). See need vs greed.
Greed: greed rolls happen only if no one selected Need (Warcraft Wiki).
Group loot: items at or above the leader's quality threshold are rolled for; lower ones go round-robin, where members take turns (Warcraft Wiki).
Master looter: one player, designated by the leader, loots all corpses and distributes the loot (Warcraft Wiki).
GDKP: a style of raiding that Warcraft Tavern's recap of a developer Q&A says Forever will not allow (September 17, 2026).
Meeting Stone: does not summon players to instance entrances in Forever (Warcraft Tavern, September 14, 2026). See no summoning stones.
Ritual of Summoning: the Warlock spell that is currently the only way to summon a player; it needs two extra party members present (Warcraft Tavern, September 14, 2026).

What do instance, rested XP, reputation and level cap mean?

Instance: the colloquial term for a dungeon or raid; each group gets its own copy (Warcraft Wiki).
Raid: an instanced area designed to require more than 5 players (Warcraft Wiki).
Attunement: the process of gaining permanent access to an instance (Warcraft Wiki).
Rested XP: a system where characters accumulate a bonus modifier for experience gains (Warcraft Wiki).
Reputation: your standing with a faction, from Hated to Exalted (Warcraft Wiki). See the reputation guide.
Level cap: players adventure to level 60 (Blizzard).

What do Skyborne, Windshaper and camping mean?

Skyborne: a new playable race, also called the shen'dorei, with a branch on each faction (Blizzard).
Windshaper: the Horde Skyborne branch; classes are Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman and Warrior (Blizzard).
High Order: the Alliance Skyborne branch; classes are Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue and Warrior (Blizzard).
Zephras Isle: the Skyborne starting experience for levels 1 to 12 (Blizzard).
Camping: the Cooking Fire becomes a Basic Campfire, a shared campsite where nearby players can rest (Blizzard).

What do ruleset, mega-realm and Familiar Faces mean?

Ruleset: the choice that replaces picking a realm: Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay PvP, with Hardcore after launch (Blizzard, October 22). See rulesets.
Normal: a focus on adventuring and fighting monsters, with fights against other players at your discretion (Blizzard).
PvP ruleset: a focus on player combat, where you are almost always at risk of attack by opposing players (Blizzard).
Roleplay: strict naming conventions and behavior rules for immersive roleplaying (Blizzard).
Roleplay PvP: the Roleplay conventions with a focus on player combat (Blizzard).
Hardcore: the ruleset where death carries lasting consequences; it arrives after launch, and the Warcraft Wiki's roadmap says winter 2026/2027 (Blizzard; Warcraft Wiki).
Mega-realm: the Warcraft Wiki's term for one shared realm per ruleset per region; Blizzard calls each ruleset an "ecosystem" (Warcraft Wiki; Blizzard).
Familiar Faces: a system meant to pair you with players you have crossed paths with and keep guildmates visible to each other (Warcraft Tavern, September 16, 2026).
Layering: a design tool used in Classic to relieve crowding in outdoor areas (Warcraft Wiki).

What do Legacy Points, name reservation and the upgrade packs mean?

Legacy System: Forever's seasonal replacement for achievements (Warcraft Tavern). See the Legacy guide.
Legacy Points: 65 Legacy Challenges each give one point, earned across your Battle.net account; launch caps investable points at 16 (Warcraft Tavern).
Early Name Reservation: October 27 to November 3, 2026, up to three characters, included with an upgrade purchase and first come, first served (Blizzard).
Two names: each character has two names; the full name is unique within a region (Blizzard).
Invite-A-Friend code: lets an invitee play November 4 to 11 without a subscription or Game Time (Blizzard).
Game Time: Forever requires a WoW subscription or Game Time (Blizzard).
Upgrade packs: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection, which is available through January 11, 2027 (Blizzard). See which edition to buy.
Classic style: by default disables transmogrification and quest tracking and enables SD models (Warcraft Tavern, September 17, 2026).

What do Edit Mode, macros and keybinds mean?

Edit Mode: opens from Esc and lets you drag, resize and snap interface elements (Gfinity Esports).
Macro: a grouping of several slash commands that execute together when you click a button (Warcraft Wiki). See macros and keybinds.
Quick Keybind mode: hover over an action-bar slot, then choose its key (Method).

What is not confirmed yet

Warcraft Wiki and WowVendor entries describe the game generally; no Blizzard page opened defines them for Forever.
Hardcore's date comes from the Warcraft Wiki's roadmap; Blizzard's ruleset post says "sometime after launch."
Warcraft Tavern, not Blizzard, is the source for classic style, Familiar Faces, GDKP, the LFG window and Meeting Stones.

How can the Lore Forever add-on and Willo help with the words?

A glossary is a map of words; the world gives them meaning. The free Lore Forever add-on, which works on Mac too, puts a one-line story in the tooltip of NPCs and mobs and a Lore button on the quest dialog. Its coverage runs up to level 30. Willo is a separate Windows companion: hold your talk key, ask what a word means, hear the answer, and keep a per-character notebook of to-dos. She is free to start with 50 answers a day and can be wrong, so check her against the sources above. Lore Forever is fan-made and not affiliated with Blizzard.

Frequently asked questions

What does tank mean in WoW Forever?

The Warcraft Wiki defines a tank as a character whose main job in a dungeon or raid is to absorb damage and keep others from being attacked.

What is a ruleset in WoW Forever?

Blizzard says players select a ruleset instead of a realm. The launch rulesets are Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay PvP, with Hardcore after launch.

What does Skyborne mean in WoW Forever?

Skyborne is the new playable race, with a Horde Windshaper branch and an Alliance High Order branch, starting on Zephras Isle (Blizzard).

What are Legacy Points in WoW Forever?

Warcraft Tavern says they come from 65 Legacy Challenges worth one point each across your Battle.net account, and launch caps investable points at 16.

What does aggro mean in WoW Forever?

Aggro means which enemy is attacking a given player, according to the Warcraft Wiki's Abbreviation guide. A tank's job is to hold it.

Sources

Reviewed October 30, 2026. Lore Forever is fan-made and is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.