So there you are, minding your own business, admiring the latest artwork on some random piece of foliage the developers put in there to distract you, and suddenly some idiot's made off with part of your torso, and all of your hard won cash. You want to get it back? You'd better brush up on the basics. First, terminology so you don't get lost:

Buff: Protective abilities that reduce damage, enhance abilities, and basically make your target's job of killing you that much harder.

DeBuff: Abilities or spells that change your target from a guy who can defend himself into dusty shell of his former self. It's easier to stop an ant to death that it is poking an elephant to death with a fork.

Root: Maneuverability is critical in these situations. Roots force your enemy to stand right where they are. Effect differs per game, but in most cases this involves either stopping your enemy from all movement, or slowing them. Sometimes roots make your enemy unable to attack.

Placate: Not all games have this ability. Placating an enemy makes him unable to attack you, while not further restricting his abilities. The "Leave me alone while I do something else" power.

Critical strikes: Most games have this. The ability to randomly land a blow that does much higher damage than normal. Some people depend on this.

Critical failure: Major screwup by your character. Sometimes involves inflicting damage on yourself, or dropping a weapon or shield, or detonating explosives you were trying to plant. Also known as "God hates you".

The other important terms are covered in my previous post. I may add more later as my PvP-fried brain recalls them.

So, now you got the basic terminology down, what's next? Find the baddest mofo you can on your server, them provoke them. That's right. Intentionally find the best fighter you can, and fight them. You will lose. Badly. If you have a recording program like fraps, I highly suggest you record your humiliating defeat. Why do this, you ask? Simple. You don't know how to go about fighting, but he does. And he's going to show you by making you suffer. When you review the clip or recall the fight later, the key is to think "Ok, this didn't work. What did he do to counter it?" And do me a favor, here. LOSE GRACIOUSLY. A good question to ask after the fight is "What did I do wrong?" If you were a good sport about the whole thing, and the guy who pummeled you is a decent sort, he'll tell you. And with that one single match, you're already well ahead of the guys who are trying to figure things out for themselves.

Another excellent resource is the community forums for whatever game you're working on. Ask questions. Lots of them. If you keep catching the wrong end of some ability that is making you lose, hop on the boards and ask for a counter. You'll happily be given reams of information.

And lastly, be persistant. Nobody ever logged on a game and beat every single person. Nobody was born knowing every detail of the game you're on. No matter how much you suck at the start, the only thing standing between you and a field of corpses in the future is persistance and practice. Go to it.

~ Whackjob