Nerf

To nerf is a gaming slang term that generally means "to weaken".

The term is used by players of computer games (not just Guild Wars) to mean the reducing of certain content's effectiveness that the developers of the game have deemed unfair or an exploit (e.g. taking out certain weapons, reducing the damage of certain spells). This is usually done by releasing an update for the users to download.

In Guild Wars, there is no way to avoid "nerfing", as all content is automatically downloaded on startup of the game. Nerfing is most directed at builds that seem to overpower others or at farming areas that become too profitable for professional farmers who make real life profit with in game gold.

Examples of nerfing done in Guild Wars:
 * The spell Chain Lightning was made weaker in the summer of 2005 by reducing its damage and increasing its activation time. This made it less potent and easier to disrupt. This was in response to the domination of PvP teams that were composed of Air Magic spikers.
 * The explorable areas Witman's Folly and the Underworld had new/modified monsters introduced to make them harder for players to farm "solo." The additions and modificiations comprised of adding an enchantment removing creature because enchantments were the secret to being able to farm that area alone.
 * Around the release of Factions, the number of minions was capped based on the player's rank in Death magic. This was to stop the Necromancers that could summon hordes (Such as twenty or thirty) of minions and causing an unfair advantage over non-Necromancers and non-Minion-mancer Necromancers.

"Nerf" as an online-gaming term more than likely originates from the 'Nerf' brand of toys that was introduced by Parker Brothers in 1969.

For more information, see:
 * Nerf
 * Nerf (computer gaming)