Original post by Khaen, thans dear.

1) What is an instance?

'Instances' can be found all around the world, they can be referred to as 'Dungeons' also. The first sign that the place you are entering is an instance will be the portal type entrance, when you enter this a loading screen will appear and you will be taken inside the instance. Instances are primarily designed for a group of players to come together and conquer the dungeon, defeat the bosses and reclaim the loot. This is done by a group of players (maximum of five for all dungeons up to around level 5Cool to join a party and enter the instance together, they will then be on their own to defeat the monsters and whatever else lies inside....

2) Loot

'Loot' is just a short tem for the word treasure, this means anything worth anything of value in our virtual world, whether its an item you can sell or just an item that you are going to wear, this will be classed as loot. When a mob (monster) you kill drops loot a small rectangular box will appear on your screen, it will show the item and two symbols, a dice and a coin. The Dice means you need the item to wear or use yourself, and the coin means greed, this means an item you don’t need but you'd like to have anyway. If all players greed then the item will go to a random player, if everyone needs the same thing will happen. however if one person needs and the rest of the players greed then the person who needed will get the item. *WARNING* if you 'need' on an item that you cannot use, you risk your reputation and people will not want to instance with you and you will be labelled a "Ninja".
(This is all assuming that the leader has the default party setting enabled, if the leader tampers with the default settings then other loot distributions methods may be in place)

3) What is aggro?

The word 'Aggro' generally means aggravation. This is a word and a concept which is vital to any player who instances/raids. The tank (a player who takes the damage to allow other player to kill the mobs) will need to get as much aggro as possible so that he has the maximum amount of mobs on him as possible. This is do that the mobs don’t turn and attack other players, and in contrast other players need to have the minimum amount of threat as possible so that they do not obtain aggro and force the mobs from the tank. Aggro can be obtained and maintained by a player doing alot of damage and using spells which cause a lot of threat, warriors, druids and paladins are prime tanking classes in the game and have spells to cause threat, equally some DPS classes (Damage dealers) have spells to reduce their threat so that they do not get aggro.

If you are a damage dealer then my advice to you is to keep your damage dealing on the low if the tank is losing aggro, and equally if your a tank then i would advise you to give off as much threat as possible.

4) Buffs + Debuffs

Buffs and Debuffs are opposites, a buff is a spell/potion cast on you which gives you extra power, such as arcane intellect (increases your intellect) or power word: fortitude (increases your stamina). Buffs are only temporary and only normally last around 30 mins. De buffs however are the opposite of buffs, these are spells which deminish your powers, such as diseases and curses, cast by either players or mobs on you.

5) The term "Marking"

As a tank in an instance you will be required to mark in instances (or sometimes the person who knows the instance the best). To "mark" mobs means to place a symbol above monsters heads. This labels the mob, and each symbol will represent each individual party members target. To mark a mob, you can simple right click on their portrait, and choose the mark option, and choose an appropriate mark.
Common marking structures are as follows:
Skull = All attack/ Primary target
Cross = Second target
Moon = Sheep (or general CC)
Diamond = Sap (or a CC)

6) Crowd Control (CC)

CC is used in all instances assuming that there are classes in that group which are able to CC. Some classes have spells to completly immobilise a target for a set period of time, a prime example of this is the mages "Polymorph" spell (commonly known as sheep). The sheep spell turns the target into a sheep and keeps them unable to attack for a certain amount of time (dependant on polymorph rank). Alot of classes have CC spells, however some do not, you may want to consider this when choosing your class since some DPS classes are chosen over others when it comes to an instance that requires CC.

7) Pets/Minions

Pets should normally be kept on defensive or passive and be forced to attack certain mobs. Pets on aggressive can end up 'agro'ing an entire room, and therefore putting the party in danger.

Warlocks, dependant on level usually use the IMP for dps in an instance, but in a case where the party lacks tanks, the Warlock would use the voidwalker as the tank.

Imp also has bloodpact, which raises stats of all party members, and can also give fire shield to party members if cast as a buff.