Common WoW terms, and their meaning
After lurking on the Battle.net WoW forums for quite some time, its become painfully obvious there are some terms which are completely misunderstood.
Ninja Loot[ing]
As obvious as this term seems, it means something entirely different in World of Warcraft than it does in other MMOs. To put it simply, ninja looting does not exist in World of Warcraft. In other games, this term was used to describe the act of stealing loot from a mob another player killed. Within WoW, however, that act is simply impossible. When a player hits a mob with an attack, if they are the player to do so, the loot gets attached to that player. Another player cannot come along and steal the loot.
When used in raids and dungeons, its also incorrect! Most raid groups run with Master Looter. Why? We have no idea. There really is no good reason any pick-up group should ever run with Master Looter. The ML is the only one who has rights to the loot and they could choose to not distribute the loot. Its not ninja looting, but it might be a scam depending on how the loot rules were laid out (if there were any other than MS>OS, which is not a valid loot rule).
P2W, PtW, and others
This means Pay-to-Win. In most MMOs that are F2P (Free-to-Play), powerful gear can be found on the game's in-game store or marketplace. These items do more than just give a cosmetic enhancement, they give the player a distinct advantage. Hence - Pay-to-Win. These items are purchased using real money or some form of in-game currency directly converted from real money. No, the WoW Token doesn't count here. All the WoW Token does is give game time.
Most forum posts on Battle.net seem to think World of Warcraft is Pay-to-Win. To those, I issue a challenge: Name me one piece of gear on the Blizzard Store that enhances stats in some way.
Duping
Here's a term that always used incorrectly. If you browse the Battle.net forums, you'll most likely come across one or two posts per day complaining about duping. Newsflash: It's impossible.
Although there are cases in which a character restoration may result in a duplicate item or two, its actually not the same thing. Each item has a unique identifier called the GUID, or Global Unique Identifier. Although each item does have an Item ID in-game, its completely separate from the GUID. This is why GMs cannot give items to players in which there are no logs. The GUID doesn't exist. In cases where a restoration resulted in two of the same Item ID (like a tradeable mount), the GUID is different.
This ends this part of our WoW terminology series. Keep an eye out for the next part! Also, visit our new Reddit at http://www.reddit.com/r/warcraftdaily and our forums at http://forum.warcraftdaily.com!