Confusion about meaning of "nerf"
nerfing in general terms means to make something weaker. nerfing a boss would be making it easier. nerfing a profession means its weaker. nerfing rewards means we are getting lesser rewards. nerfing a dungeon would mean that it is easier or perhaps less rewarding i’d say.
your friend is just wrong imo
my friend uses wiki’s definition of nerf: “reduces the desirability or effectiveness of a particular game element” and saying that nerfing dungeons reduces the effectiveness.. ie. making it harder.
I used to believe nerfing means reducing difficulty, but i’m no longer sure. I’ll need more info/opinions, and it’ll be better if u can privide evidence on your stance about the definitnion of “nerf”.
or at least, the meaning of “nerf” as the majority of players put it in GW2’s context.
also, if you believe “nerfing dungeon” = increasing dungeon difficulty, it’ll be much appreciated if u also explain why, using that definition of nerf, is it that case that nerfing dungeon = increase in difficulty whereas nerfing boss = decrease in difficulty.
If someone is to say “Nerf” it means for the content to take a difficulty hit, and get weaker, when a class gets nerfed, it either loses damage, or loses a function that gave it an advantage.
If a mob, boss, raid boss, any other form of content is nerfed, that too is also taking a difficulty hit and becoming easier. If it were being modified to become a harder encounter, it would then be receiving a buff, this is the way it works.
Generally nerf = Making content easier by weakening the monsters/quests requirements or reducing the effectiveness of a class by weakening damage or removing/changing utilities so they no longer provide a big advantage or become effectively useless.
Warrior 80 | Guardian 80 | Ranger 80 | Engineer 80 |
Thief 80 | Elementalist 80 | Mesmer 80 | Necromancer 80 | Revenant TBA
Thief 80 | Elementalist 80 | Mesmer 80 | Necromancer 80 | Revenant TBA
I guess the word “nerfing” usually carries a negative connotation. Hence “dungeon-nerfing” could have led people to think that something “negative” is happening to the dungeon, which generally means “harder” dungeon.
Sounds like a ‘grind’ debate. Everyone gets the jist of what grind means but ask for a dictionary definition and you’ll get different answers. Tell your friend to chill out, what you said wasn’t incorrect.
A warrior, a guardian, and an elementalist walk into an open field…
The Warrior turns to the guardian and says, “Did you hear something?”
Guardian replies, “No, but how’d the elementalist die?”
The Warrior turns to the guardian and says, “Did you hear something?”
Guardian replies, “No, but how’d the elementalist die?”
i prefer the term “balanced” and “balancing”
[EU/GER]Elona’s Reach: Aerrith: Lv80 Ranger / Sephirra: Lv80 Mesmer
“Only the finest of potatoes in my zerkburgers.”
“Only the finest of potatoes in my zerkburgers.”
i prefer the term “balanced” and “balancing”
I guess engineer is the most “balanced” class by your terms.
The term nerf as it relates to games came about because of the nerf bat…a foam bat that isn’t going to hit a baseball anywhere. So it means, as said above, to weaken…whether it’s a boss, a dungeon, a class, whatever
I think nerf originally meant making something weaker, specifically weapons. As Vlawde said it’s a reference to Nerf guns/bats, basically saying the developers “balancing” a weapon made it so weak and useless it’s like a foam Nerf gun and not worth using.
But from there it’s spread to just generally mean making something worse. (And sometimes gets applied as a blanket term to any/all updates when people are over-reacting.)
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerfed
Not sure if anyone that was there is still around (like here ^^).
“Whose Kitten is this?” – “It’s a Charr baby.”
“Whose Charr is this?”- “Ted’s.”
“Who’s Ted?”- “Ted’s dead, baby. Ted’s dead.”
“Whose Charr is this?”- “Ted’s.”
“Who’s Ted?”- “Ted’s dead, baby. Ted’s dead.”
Like the previous poster said, it comes from the term of use nerf guns and nerf balls, which are covered in some kind of styrofoam (horrible spelling, I’m aware) making them safer.
i.e.
If you’d get hit with a golf ball in the head vs a nerf ball, the latter will obviously hurt less. Let’s hope nobody here gets hit in the head with a golf ball.
Anyway, the term NERF then can be used as a verb where “nerfing” or “nerfed” means (in game) reducing a a particular atribute in a dungeon, boss, player, skill, and so forth. Common types of nerf are changes to things such as: toughness, difficulty, speed, distance, duration, etc.
My sprint has been nerfed, now (a. i can only use it every minute, b. only lasts 2 seconds, etc…)
Hope that helps.
my friend uses wiki’s definition of nerf: “reduces the desirability or effectiveness of a particular game element” and saying that nerfing dungeons reduces the effectiveness.. ie. making it harder.
The problem here is in the ‘OR’ in that definition, ‘desirability’ is not at all synonymous with ‘effectiveness’ and hence ‘nerfing’ one doesn’t necessarily imply the same effect in the other.
Making something less desirable is unrelated to making something less effective; and in the case of the dungeon being less ‘effective’ can easily be seen as making it less of a challenge and hence less effectively keeping players from getting the phat lewt.
Your friend is failing to see language is often more subtle than a literal reading of the words would indicate.
‘Nerf’ in general means ‘make weaker’, it’s the context that’s critical to what exactly is happening and how the object of the nerf is in comparison to its pre-nerf state.